


Fairy Tail: Solid Iron

by Lilac10_01



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M, Fairy Tail Dragon Slayers, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, protective Gajeel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:28:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 50,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25564354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilac10_01/pseuds/Lilac10_01
Summary: Gajeel struggles to adapt to his new life in Fairy Tail especially when he's all alone and filled with confusing emotions about the guild, and Levy.  Slowly he figures out his emotions, even the ones of the blue-haired mage who seemed to plague his mind on the simplest of nights.A retelling of Fairy Tail through Gajeel's point of view as well as Gajeel and Levy falling in love.
Relationships: Gray Fullbuster/Juvia Lockser, Jellal Fernandes/Erza Scarlet, Laxus Dreyar/Mirajane Strauss, Levy McGarden/Gajeel Redfox, Natsu Dragneel/Lucy Heartfilia
Comments: 4
Kudos: 74





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to see the cover, I have it over on Wattpad! I spent a long time making it and I think it looks nice.

The mission was a simple one, way too simple for Gajeel. Maybe if he had not spent so much time eating iron at the guildhall, he would have arrived at the guildhall when there was at least one person left.

“Tch, I’ve had railroads better than this,” Gajeel grumbled as he tossed aside a sword. 

He was supposed to return to Phantom Lord after wrecking the Fairy Tail guild but he refused to go until he had some fun. After all, he only took the job because he thought he would get to hurt some fairy scum. 

Maybe he should attack some before he heads home?

Gajeel let out a deep chuckle as he walked away from the armor shop and headed to a high place to look for the damn fairy scum. There he waited and started to get irritated as night fell and there were yet to be any members to walk by. 

However, right as he reached his wit’s end, he saw them.

He smiled wickedly as he jumped down and hit the short girl in the middle with an iron club. The girl had turned right before he landed the hit, her big brown eyes filled with fear as they met his red eyes that brought fear to her soul. 

“Levy!” The two guys next to her shouted. 

“Aw, you two ruined the fun! I was just about to hear her screams!” Gajeel rasped out as he smirked as he saw them bent down next to the girl. 

They dared to turn their backs to him? Oh yeah, this would be fun. 

“Levy, are you okay?” The guy with the weird hair asked. 

“You’re going to pay!” The one with the hat shouted at Gajeel. 

Gajeel smirked as the girl looked at him, pain was shown all over her face, “Jet, Droy, I’m fine. He must be the one who wrecked the guild so be careful.” 

So girly had a brain, too bad she did not have a body or else he might have spared her and taken her as a prize. Oh well. 

“Plant Magic: Knuckle plant!” The one with the hair shouted as the other shot behind him. 

“Nice try, for such weaklings,” Gajeel said with a smirk.

He raised a fist and hit the one behind him with an iron fist, he easily threw him over at the plants where he got smacked down by the plants. 

“Jet!” Levy shouted. 

Gajeel rushed over to her and laughed to himself when he saw her shrink back. 

“Solid script: Fire!” 

“Iron dragon’s roar!”

“Ah!” The girl screamed in pain as the hot iron hit her. 

Gajeel turned to see the last one standing, he smirked before hitting him an iron sword attack. He let out a huff as he looked at the three who were out cold, he knew that the Fairy Tail wizards were weak but that was just pitiful. 

A devious smile fell onto his lips when he decided how to make a stir with those scum bags. He slung the girl over his shoulder as he grabbed the two guys by their collars and dragged them across the ground. 

Where would he get the most attention? 

He wandered until he got to a clearing where there was a big tree in the center. He threw the one with the hat up and produced iron clamps which he nailed down. He threw the next guy up and did the same.

Finally, the girl. 

“S-solid script: Magn-”

Gajeel threw the girl at the tree, he heard the nasty smack as she hit the tree. Her sharp cry came out as he pinned her to the tree just as he had done to her weakling companions, crucifying her as well. 

“You get to watch me make you worth something,” Gajeel said with a chuckle as he took out paint and neared her exposed midsection. 

“D-demon,” She whispered as her eyes slowly closed, the last thing she saw was his piercing red eyes. 

“Sorry girly, try dragon.”

He laughed maniacally as he walked away from the three who he had crucified as a present to the weak guild. His sharp hearing heard as a single teardrop fell to the ground, it was from the girl. 

It was music to his ears. 

~~~

Gajeel let out a gasp as he sat up, cold sweat was on his forehead as his eyes adjusted to the darkroom. He let out a groan as he stared up at the ceiling his mind wandering to what happened later that day. 

~~~

“Juvia thinks you went too far this time, Gajeel,” Juvia said as they sat at a dining table. 

“Tch, yer too soft,” Gajeel grumbled as he bit down on a few nails. 

“Juvia just thinks you could have done as the master said. There was no need to crucify them.”

“You know damn well I only did it because I was bored. I couldn’t care less if the old man ordered me to do it.” 

“Are you going to come with us to get the girl?” 

“Nah, I’m going to stay here and join the fight. Those fairy scum may be weak but it’ll be fun to beat them to a pulp, gihee.”

“Juvia has to go now, Juvia will see you later,” Juvia said as she stood up as the other elemental three stood waiting for her. 

“Don’t forget your umbrella,” Gajeel pointed out as the water mage was leaving without it. 

“Juvia is thankful, Juvia just wants the rain to stop.” 

Gajeel grunted as he grabbed another piece of iron from the pile next to him. He decided to fuel up before the fight, he was looking forward to beating the scum up. 

~~~

Gajeel twisted to his side, “Hey, Juvia?”

There was silence, he turned back around and saw the bed was empty. He let out a growl - if she was not here then why the hell was he sleeping on the couch?

He let out a sigh, he was by himself tonight. His mind wandered back to what happened earlier that week. 

~~~

“Juvia wants to join Fairy Tail.”

“Tch, do whatever you want just leave me out of it,” Gajeel muttered as he turned away from her. 

They were standing in the ruins of a building, their guild had disbanded and they had left together. Or, Gajeel left and Juvia tagged along, she would sometimes disappear. 

“Please, Juvia knows you need work and Fairy Tail will accept you. Juvia knows so!”

“I teared up their guildhall and hurt their members, like hell they will,” Gajeel muttered as he went through the rubble to find iron. 

“Juvia doesn’t want to be alone.”

“I think it’s better for you if you stop tagging along with me. They’ll hate you if they know yer cool with me.”

“Juvia will come back when you’ve thought it over. Promise Juvia you’ll think it over.”

“Fine, now scram and when you join them, forget about me,” Gajeel said before coving his ears and laying down on the rubble, he did not want to hear her response. 

Gajeel found himself alone, a small part told him he was wrong for telling Juvia to go away. She was the only person he actually considered a friend, he would never say it though. He thought about what to do, perhaps he should leave before Juvia returned?

Slowly the days had passed and he battled the idea of leaving, maybe he stayed because he actually wanted to join-

“Yo!”

Gajeel was surprised as he turned around and saw the master of Fairy Tail. 

“Master Makarov!” Gajeel saw the old man smiling up at him. “Tch, what the hell are you here for?”

“Well...for a little talk,” Master Makarov said as he struggled to climb the ruins that Gajeel sat on. “Juvia joined my guild the other day.”

Gajeel perked up a bit, “She did what?” 

That crazy girl, she really did it, was the old man here to tell him that she needed to leave because of their friendship? She was confident they would accept her, did they really?

“She’s really worried about you.”

“What the hell is that rain woman thinking?” Gajeel wondered out loud, he had told her to cut him off not go off telling everyone she worried about him. 

“What are you going to do now?” Master Makarov asked. 

“Beats me, I ain’t decide yet. I’ll get by somehow,” Gajeel muttered. 

Master Makarov let out a sigh, “Can I ask you something?”

“What?” Gajeel responded slightly annoyed. 

“What were you thinking when you picked a fight with us? What did Phantom Lord mean to you? What did the guild mean to you? What did being a wizard mean to you?”

Gajeel let out a sigh, “That’s more than one question.”

“They’re all the same, I’m asking what do you, yourself, think about who you are? Would you have taken people’s lives if Jose had ordered you to? Are you that unquestioning? You see that’s no different than being a puppet but I don’t think you’re a puppet. 

“Shut up already and leave me alone.”

“There’s no need to throw yourself into the darkness. How about it? Wanna join my guild?

“You much be joking! Are you serious?!” Gajeel roughed out, there was no way he was being serious. 

“There are people that prefer solitude but there is no one who can withstand it.” 

Gajeel’s eyes widened as he realized maybe the old man was being sincere, “But I’m the one who destroyed your guild!”

“Let’s put all that aside.”

“And...I hurt your friends…” Gajeel said as guilt slowly started to fill him, he could still see their bodies on the tree.

“That...I will never forgive, no matter what.”

Gajeel could feel the dangerous aura the small man was putting out, he realized the man could easily kill him if he wanted. A bit of fear filled him. 

“But if I ignored a young man trying to throw himself in the darkness, it’d be myself I could never forgive.”

Gajeel bit his lip, the emotions filling him were overbearing. 

“This isn’t me saving you. I’m simply showing you the path to tomorrow,” Master Makarov extended his hand to him, “Will you go forward, or will you stop? It’s up to you to decide.”

Gajeel took his hand, “I’ll be a Fairy Tail wizard.”

~~~

Gajeel twisted on the couch once more, Juvia had been kind enough to let him crash on the couch in her hotel room. She was moving into the girl’s dormitory later that day so she let him stay until he left for a job. 

“Damn Rain woman,” Gajeel muttered. 

“Did I wake you?” 

Gajeel turned to see Juvia walking in with a towel drying her hair. 

“No, I was just, nevermind,” Gajeel grumbled. 

He refused to let anyone know he was getting night terrors from what he did to the three wizards. He did not want to worry Juvia since she nagged him for simpler things. 

“Nervous to join?” Juvia asked as she sat down on her bed and looked at him. 

“I did trash their guild,” Gajeel muttered as he stared up at the ceiling. 

“They’re very nice and they won’t hurt you.”

Gajeel scoffed as he turned on the couch to look away from her. 

“Gajeel, be honest, that’s not what was bothering you. What is it?”

“Ain’t none of yer business,” Gajeel snapped out. 

He could hear her screams of pain as though he were there again. 

“Juvia-”

“Give it a rest,” Gajeel said with a sigh. 

“Fine, goodnight.”

Gajeel heard as she slipped into bed and as her breaths slowed as she fell asleep. He found himself thinking about Levy again. 

How would she react when she saw him?

His mind raced to come up with the worst-case scenarios for how things would go. Eventually, he woke up to the smell of a reeking cologne. 

“Gah, what’s that awful smell?” Gajeel asked as he turned to look where Juvia stood hugging a massive stuffed Gray. 

“Juvia bought Gray-sama’s cologne and sprayed it on her Gray-sama plushie!” 

Gajeel covered his nose as he stood up, “Yer crazy, woman.”

“Juvia loves Gray-sama!”

Gajeel shook his head as he grabbed his bag and headed to the bathroom. He needed to freshen up. 

When he came out, he found Juvia zipping up her suitcase. 

“Are you ready to go to the guild? Juvia will join you!”

Gajeel let out a grunt, “I ain’t need ya to join me, besides you need to move into yer dorm.”

“Juvia doesn’t need to be there immediately. What color will you get your guild mark?” Juvia asked as she followed Gajeel out of the hotel room. 

“Do you really need to ask such a dumb question?” 

“Juvia was just checking.”

Gajeel grumbled as he waited for her to check out. He listened to her ramble on about how she was going to thirty-eight kids with Gray, the ice wizard. 

“Juvia will name them Petwer, Gray Jr., Grey, Leaden, Slate, Grayish, Steely, Silver, and Icee!”

“Full offense, I would hate to be yer child with those names.”

“Juvie!” Juvia shouted in shock as she fell to her knees and cried about how cruel he was. 

Gajeel looked at her dumbfounded, “You were just naming other forms of the color Gray. Try naming yer kids something normal-ish like I don’t know, Gia or Jay?”

“Juvia likes the names! Juvia thinks her kids will love their Uncle Gajeel,” Juvia said with a giggle. 

Gajeel felt his face get hot as he looked away, “Yer sure you want me to be their uncle?”

“Juvia doesn’t see why not, you’re a good man, Gajeel. Juvia knows you have a difficult past but you’re going to change it now, right?”

“Tch.”

Juvia smiled as she dragged her suitcase, she knew Gajeel was very loyal and he would find a place in Fairy Tail. 

When they entered the guildhall, Gajeel noticed the silence that was cast over everyone. He scowled as he felt his heart pace quicken. 

“Juvia, how could you bring that monster into our guild?!” Someone shouted. 

“Wait, Juvia brought Gajeel because he wants to change!”

“Yeah right,” Some guy muttered as Gajeel walked ahead leaving Juvia behind. 

He should have known not to be with her, she was a member of the guild already, and being with the likes of him would make everyone hate him. 

Gajeel pretended not to hear the insults being thrown his way was Juvia grabbed his arm and led him to the master. 

“Juvia knows they just need some time to get used to it,” Juvia tried to comfort Gajeel as they arrive at Master Makarov’s office. 

Gajeel swung the door open and the duo watched as the old man blushed and quickly threw a pervy magazine underneath the table. 

“Gajeel, Juvia, I didn’t hear you two coming!” Master Makarov tried to play off what they had just witnessed. 

“Yer a perverted old man, you know that?” Gajeel bluntly asked as Juvia tried to cool her red face. 

“Juvia is so sorry, Juvia didn’t know!”

Gajeel rolled his eyes as the two freaked out about the incident. Master Makarov soon cleared his throat and looked at Gajeel, he no longer looked flustered from being caught red-handed. 

“Gajeel, I take it you’re here to get your guild mark?”

“Damn, right. I need to work you know.”

“Juvia, could you go get Mirajane?” The master asked as Gajeel crossed his arms. 

“Juvia will go right away!” Juvia said as she quickly walked away to fetch the woman. 

Now that they were alone, Gajeel scowled and looked at the old man. 

“She’s gone now why did you tell me to come here before I got my guild mark?” 

“Sorry for all the secrecy, you see, I have a personal job for you and only you can complete it. What do you say?”

“Yer being shady, tell me what it is first.” 

Makarov sighed as he glanced at the door, “My son Ivan runs a dark guild and I have my worries about the information he has about our guild. I need you to be a double agent, I need you to join them and act like you’re betraying Fairy Tail. Can you do this for me?”

Gajeel's eyes widened as he looked at the master, “You want me to join a dark guild? Are you out of yer damn mind? What was all that crap about leading me to the light?”

“You won’t be joining them per se, you’ll just approach them and act like you’re coming after us for disbanding your old guild. Offer to be a secret agent and then report to me what you find out about his information on our guild.” 

Gajeel sighed, “Fine, I’ll do it.”

“Great, I’ll get more information before you go on this job so you can take one off the board if you wish.”

Right on time, Juvia and Mirajane walked in and Mirajane asked Gajeel where he would like the mark. 

“Left-arm,” Gajeel muttered and watched as he watched Mirajane place the black mark on his arm. 

“Welcome to Fairy Tail! Please come to me with jobs you want to take so I can mark them off and remember if you hurt anyone I’ll make sure to hurt you ten times worse,” Mirajane said with a bright smile and a small giggle at the end. 

Gajeel shuddered at her threat. 

“Juvia is so glad you’re in Fairy Tail now!” Juvia said in excitement and Gajeel just grumbled. 

He was thinking about the job the master had given, what if he got found out by the members of his new guild? Surely no one would ever trust him again. 

Thinking back on what he did, he did not deserve anyone’s trust. 

“Yeah, well I’m going to go get a job,” Gajeel said as he walked out and dreaded going out there. 

He cursed his sharp hearing for hearing everyone talking in the guildhall about him already. Despite having a tough exterior, each word felt like a sharp hit to him. 

He walked past the prying eyes to the board, he wanted to leave. Part of him told him to grab the first page he could reach but he knew what he signed up for when he agreed to join. 

He stood his ground despite the stares on him, he spotted a job that was paying good cash for a simple monster extermination job. He grabbed it when someone grabbed his wrist. 

He slowly looked at them, it was some weird guy staring down at him. 

“What’s yer damn problem?”

“These jobs are for Fairy Tail wizards only, besides, you still have to apologize for hitting me,” The tall man said. 

“Never seen you in my life, now let go of me.” 

“Why you! I attacked you right before Natsu did!” The man screeched as he frowned at the man, his pride broken after being forgotten so easily. 

“I ain’t ever seen yer face now let go of me,” Gajeel growled out. 

“Nab, leave Gajeel alone. He’s a part of our guild now and you never take any jobs so stop it,” Mirajane said as she tended to a table nearby where Cana was glaring at three Gajeels. 

Gajeel tsked his tongue at the man before taking the job, ripping his wrist from his grasp in the process, and storming past Mirajane. 

“I’m taking this job,” Gajeel grumbled out before he rushed out of the guild. 

He could not handle the stares and whispers about him. 

As he walked, he suddenly caught the scent of the woman who he could not get out of his head. Not after what he had done. 

He heard a soft humming sound, she was around the corner. 

Gajeel quickly jumped onto the roof of a building and looked down to see Levy humming as she held a book close to her chest. She seemed so peaceful. 

He also noticed a shady fellow following closely, his eyes narrowed as he jumped down and tackled the man. 

“What the hell do you think yer doing following a girl around like that?” Gajeel growled out in anger, that girl deserved an easy life for the rest of her life. 

What he did would be enough trauma for her. 

At that moment, Gajeel swore to protect Levy to the best of his ability and so he wasted no time teaching the stalker a lesson.


	2. Chapter 2

Gajeel was tired from his walk back to Magnolia but he needed to save up his money and train at the same time. As he drew closer, he thought back to Phantom Lord. 

Since he was one of the strongest aside from the element four, he got the best jobs that paid a lot. His wallet was going to hurt now that he had to get the same jobs offered to some weaker than him. 

“Gajeel, is that you?” 

Gajeel turned to see Totomaru holding several paper bags, “Totomaru? What are you doing in Magnolia?”

When their guild had disbanded, Gajeel had left without talking to the other S-class wizards in the guild aside from Juvia. Well, more like Juvia joined him for a bit before leaving to go find her ‘Gray-sama’ but she came back every once in a while to company him. 

Honestly, he had been glad to leave without talking to the others since he only got along with Juvia. He only tolerated the others. 

“Ah, actually, I decided to attend school to learn to be a teacher. I don’t think being a wizard is right for me, not after that damned fire wizard beat me,” Totomaru said as he clutched his bags close to his chest. 

“I guess yer going to get a job around here once you finish studying?” Gajeel asked. 

“Yeah, I see you joined Fairy Tail. How did that go down?”

“Tch, ain’t none of yer business,” Gajeel retorted. 

“Yup, same old Gajeel. Say, if you need a place there’s an apartment not too far from here that recently went up. I was going to rent it but it’s out of my price range these days if I want to continue going to school,” Totomaru said as he laughed. 

“Oh yeah? How much?”

“It’s 80,000 jewels a month,” He said almost in shame. 

Gajeel knew Totomaru was pretty good with money so he either must have been attending a pricey school or his hospital bills were pretty bad. That was what wiped out a good chunk of his own money. 

“I’ll go check it out, say why are you being so nice to me? We were never close,” Gajeel pointed out.   
“No particular reason, send my regards to Juvia,” Totomaru said as he started to walk away.

Gajeel turned to go check out the place, maybe it was worth his time. 

When he arrived, he was given a tour and the place was smaller than his old one but the selling point for him was the walls were pretty thick and his sharp hearing did not have to listen to unwanted sounds. He could still hear outside but that was only if he focused. 

He signed the contract before leaving for the guildhall, he needed another job now that he had a place. 

Gajeel let out a grumble as he drew closer, it was only a matter of time before he would run into Salamander and the others. He could care less about what the others thought about him, he did hate everyone there. 

He hoped that the others were over their initial shock since he was not in the mood to hear them talk about him without confronting him. He wanted to avoid beating them up.

Lost in thought, Gajeel did not notice the short mage who was walking down the street with bags filled with new releases. However, she saw him right away, and fear washed over her, freezing her dead in her tracks. 

Levy had heard the rumors that Gajeel had joined the guild but she tried to convince herself it was not real. Seeing him in front of her with the guild mark on his arm broke her false sense of safety. 

She let out a small cry as she hid behind the nearest object which was a fruit stand. 

Gajeel caught the movement and looked at the area, their eyes locked. 

Levy could feel her heart racing as her eyes met the red ones that were in her nightmares. Gajeel felt his heart stop, as a small voice in his head told him to apologize but another told him that was not his style and tried to reason it was for his old guild master. 

He listened to the second voice, Gajeel quickly looked away. He stared at his boots as he walked and screamed at himself internally for just walking away. 

Levy continued to watch him until she no longer could, she grabbed her books and ran all the way to Fairy Hills. Unbeknownst to her, Gajeel had gone to the top of a building and watched as she ran away in terror. 

Gajeel shook his head as he made his way into the guild and ignored the stares that followed when he entered. He spotted Master Makarov with a flushed face sitting next to a girl who was chugging down a barrel of alcohol. The Master - even though he was clearly intoxicated - met eyes with Gajeel and gave him a slight head nod to indicate the needed information had arrived. 

Gajeel walked over to the bar where Mirajane was washing dishes. He might as well get something to eat since the Master was going to take his sweet time before giving him the information he needed. 

“Hello, Gajeel, is there something you want to order?” Mirajane asked as she turned to face him. 

“What do you have that’s good?” Gajeel asked. 

“Well, everything is good! I could recommend something if you want?” 

“Surprise me, just make sure to use iron plating,” Gajeel said as he rested his head on his hand. 

He was thinking back on his encounter with Levy. 

He terrified her and yet he wanted to protect her? He let out a snort as he reached into his pocket where a small, battered up notebook sat. He needed to distract himself. 

He opened the notebook to a fresh page, his pen met the paper, and let lyrics come out. He had never intended to make it a hobby but when he first laid eyes on a guitar, he knew he wanted to play it. 

Juvia was the only person who stayed and listen to him play, she told him he was really good...maybe he should title the song ‘Best Friend’. He would rather get hit by a magic mobile than tell Juvia he named the song after their friendship. 

Sometimes he thought about performing in front of others, there had never needed an opportunity for it though. 

“Gajey?”

Gajeel flinched as he scowled and looked at the only person who called him that, his face was hot with embarrassment. 

“Juvia, what the hell do you think yer doing calling me that?” Gajeel scolded. 

She had insisted on giving him a nickname since he sometimes called her ‘Rain woman’. 

“Juvia is sorry, when did you arrive?”

“I just got here, when did you change yer outfit?” Gajeel said as he noticed her new look. 

“Juvia did so not long ago, Juvia wants to impress Gray-sama when he arrives!” 

“Tch, whatever floats yer boat,” Gajeel muttered as he turned back to his notebook. 

“Juvia thinks you should perform on stage! It’s almost time for Mirajane to perform and Juvia is sure you can perform too.”

Gajeel smirked as he looked at her, “Well ain’t that good news? I just finished up writing a song too.” 

“Here you go, Gajeel,” Mirajane said as she set down the food in front of Gajeel. 

“Can Juvia read the new song lyrics?” Juvia asked as Gajeel sat the notebook down. 

“Tch, shouldn’t you be bothering that ice stripper?” Gajeel asked as he caught the scent of Levy. 

He looked over at the entrance to see Levy cowering behind a pillar as Juvia spilled on about Gray. His eyes fell on his food before letting out a grunt. 

“Fine, quit yer yammering. Let’s go sit somewhere else,” Gajeel said as he led her to an empty seating area. 

He gave her the notebook and he glanced back over at the short mage who was smiling at the other two he had hurt. Gajeel ate his meal as he listened to Juvia talk about how his song was surely going to be a hit with the guild. 

He suddenly remembered that Totoramu had told him to give Juvia his regards.

“Yer never going to believe who I ran into,” Gajeel said and Juvia looked at him curiously. 

“Juvia, come over here for a second,” Master Makarov said. 

“Oh, Gajeel was going to tell Juvia something,” Juvia said as she looked at the master before looking at Gajeel with expecting eyes. 

Maybe their past should remain in the past. 

“It’s nothing, go over to Master,” Gajeel muttered before taking his notebook from her and pocketing it. 

He lost himself thinking about whether or not his guitar was in tune when suddenly he heard the master mention there was another new member, he looked over and noticed the stripper, Salamander, blondie, and Titania had arrived. 

The two guys exploded with anger as Juvia tried to calm them down as Erza stepped forward. 

“I don’t mind Juvia but he’s the one responsible for destroying our guild hall,” Erza said. 

Gajeel let out a huff as he looked away, at least she had the guts to say it to his face. 

“Now, now remember what I’ve taught you. Yesterday’s enemy can be today’s friend, right?” The master tried to reason. 

“Yeah. If I’m okay with him here, then you should be too,” Levy said. 

Gajeel glanced back to see her cowering behind a table. He could also feel the two guys he beat up staring at him. 

“There ain’t no way!” Natsu shouted as he slammed the table in front of Gajeel. “I can’t work with somebody I can’t trust.”

Gajeel turned to him, annoyance written all over his face, “What’s the big deal? It’s not like I wanna be yer buddy.” Gajeel stood up as he glared at him, “The only reason I’m here is to get work. I hate this stupid guild and everyone in it, but times are tough, so I had no choice but to join.” 

“Shut up loser!” Natsu shouted. 

Gajeel wanted to punch him in the face but he knew that would only cause them to dislike him more. He stood in front of Natsu. Silently challenging him to throw a hit but in the end, Natsu got dragged away and he was left alone. 

Then the lights turned off and the lights on the stage lit up as Mirajane was revealed. Gajeel was about to head over when he felt someone grab his wrist.

He looked at the Master who silently slipped him a piece of paper before walking away. Gajeel knew he could leave without a sound but he wanted to perform just one song and blow the others away. 

He quickly got changed and switched out with Mirajane, while the majority of the crowd booed and threw things at him he heard a few others aside from Juvia cheering him on. 

He hated everyone but he had to admit, some of them had good taste in music.  
~~~

“Man, this is going to be a sucker to get clean,” Gajeel muttered as he held up his dirty suit.

He shook his head as he put it into his bag, he would drop it off at his apartment before he left. As he stepped out of the room to head to Raven Tail, he noticed Jet and Droy leaning against the walls with their arms crossed. 

They looked angry. 

Gajeel kept on walking when they came together and blocked his way, glaring at him. 

“What’s yer deal?” 

“Met us at the spot,” Droy paused, he looked angry. 

“-Where you humiliated us,” Jet finished. 

Before he got to question them any more, the two turned and left. 

Gajeel sighed, he might as well. He had a suspicion of what they wanted so he headed out. It did not take long before he arrived at the area, he saw the three of them waiting and he dropped off his bag at the entrance before walking closer.

“So what’s the deal? Why’d you ask me to meet you out here? Make it fast, I gotta get to work,” Gajeel said as he walked up to the trio to the tree that haunted his dreams. 

He saw how the two guys stood in front of Levy who hid behind a tree, he wondered if she would ever stop hiding from him. 

“We got a bone to pick with you,” Jet said angrily. 

“After what you did to us, there’s no way you’re joining our guild!” Droy shouted in outrage. 

“C’mon guys, can’t you just forgive and forget?” Gajeel asked - though he knew it was a long shot. 

The glares he was getting from them told him things would get messy before he got to go on his job, but then, Levy spoke. 

“Maybe he’s right, I mean, now that he’s in the guild, he’s not gonna do it again.”

“We gotta let him know,” Jet said. 

“That he can’t mess with us,” Droy finished. 

Gajeel smirked, they sounded like an old married couple who finished each other’s sentences.

“That’s right, go ahead and act tough while you still can!” Jet said as he launched himself at Gajeel. 

“Secret seeds: Knuckle plant!” Droy shouted as the plants punched Gajeel. 

“Falcon Heaven soar!” Jet shouted before landing another hit on Gajeel. 

Gajeel steadied himself as he looked up at the two, their hits actually hurt when he made himself take the hits. He wondered if Levy would aim an attack on him as well. 

“You had enough yet?”

“What happened to the tough guy act?”

“You’re not giving the new guy a hard time, are ya?” A new guy asked. 

Gajeel heard the guy with weird hair addressed him as Laxus. He looked pretty intimidating and now that he thought about it, he was not there when their guilds had fought. 

“But seeing as this is the punk that tore down our guild hall, I understand how you feel. I bet the only reason the old geezer let you join the guild is ‘cause he was scared of you wrecking the place again,” Laxus said as he stepped forward.

His face became enraged, “We’ve become the laughing stock of the magic community because of you!” He shouted. “On my way back from my last job, I stopped off at a few pubs and I heard some things that pissed me off.”

Gajeel silently listened as the guy angrily shouted at him about how he had ruined Fairy Tail’s reputation when he was suddenly hit by a ray of lightning. He shouted in pain as the electricity shocked him in every part of his body especially where his piercings were. 

“Now you’re gonna pay!”

Gajeel looked up to see a circle of lightning tearing up the ground as it came straight at him, he wanted to move but they had a good reason to hurt him. If he moved, he would anger them even more. 

“You’re taking this too far. Calm down, man,” Jet said as Gajeel laid in the rubble waiting for the next hit. 

“I know Laxus is strong and all but somethings not right, it seems like Gajeel’s going down too easily,” Droy pointed out. 

Gajeel heard as they realized that he was letting them get their pent up emotions out on him. 

He heard Levy say that he was trying to gain their acceptance, he was going to lie to them when Laxus stepped on his face. 

“You never should’ve messed with Fairy Tail, punk! ‘Cause now you’re gonna have to deal with me!” Laxus shouted as he stepped on his face, sending electricity with each hit. 

“Give it a rest Laxus! Leave him alone!” Jet shouted. 

“I’m not takin’ orders from you!” Laxus shouted back.

Gajeel watched as he shot lightning at them, he saw it was going to hit Levy. No, he promised to protect her!

His arm burned, he had turned his arm to iron and had the lightning hit him instead. 

“Gajeel!” Levy cried out in horror. 

His arm shook in pain, “You through with me now? ‘Cause I got other things to do,” Gajeel muttered before walking away. 

“Um, Gajeel, I-” 

Gajeel cut her off, “Leave me alone.”

He knew she would thank him but he had no right to be thanked by her - not after what he did. 

Gajeel staggered as he walked to his bag, he dragged himself to his apartment. His arm had yet to stop trembling, if that guy had been there when their guilds had fought, he would be dead. 

He sighed as he saw how messed up he looked in the mirror. If he had used his iron dragon scales, he would have injured that Jet guy and they would have have been mad he was not going down easy. 

~~~

“Hey, you with the piercings. Master Ivan is letting you speak to him,” A short purple guy asked. 

Gajeel was repulsed at just how ugly the guy was. He silently went into the office and found himself face-to-face with Makarov’s son. 

If he was not told so by the master himself, then he would have had a very hard time believing they were father and son. 

“I heard from Nullpudding that you want to join Raven Tail and infiltrate Fairy Tail for us?” Ivan asked as he leaned back in his chair.

“Yeah, those Fairy scum are the whole reason my guild disbanded. I want to get my revenge on them and I hear you got a bone to pick with them as well,” Gajeel said. 

“Believe it or not but their current master is my father, he kicked me out a long time ago so you could say I have a bone to pick with them. I hear you destroyed their guildhall and crucified several of their bunch, what makes you so sure you can infiltrate them?” Ivan asked. 

“Well, the master came to me himself and begged me to join. He spouted some crap about helping lead me to the light by letting me join, I think he’s just scared I’ll destroy his guild again,” Gajeel ended with a snicker. 

He may hate Laxus but his snarky comment might have helped him get Ivan’s trust. 

“My old man always preached about that type of stuff and yet he kicked his own son out for a little mistake. I’ll take you up on your offer, earn their trust - especially Makarov’s - and report anything of interest that would aid us in taking them down. Take this Shikigami, it will remain useless until we need to communicate. Just leave it in a dry spot and it’ll come to you when I need to talk to you,” Ivan said. 

Gajeel nodded as he took the paper cut out of a doll, it worked like a communication lacrima. He would have to be careful about what he said. 

“I’ll go join them, Master Ivan,” Gajeel said as he stood up. 

“Say, what do you have under your bandages on your left arm?” Ivan asked. 

Gajeel blinked once before scowling, “That stupid Salamander burned my arm and it’s still healing,” Gajeel responded. 

“I thought you could turn your body into iron, Black Steel Gajeel,” Ivan said and Gajeel nodded. 

“I can, he got me in a surprise attack,” Gajeel said. 

“Go on now, you need to gain their trust as quickly as you can.”

Gajeel nodded before leaving. He left the shabby guild and kept walking until he got onto the train back to Magnolia. 

Whoever had been following him had finally stopped. 

Gajeel grumbled as he looked out the window, he would have to earn that creeps trust. He was kind of regretting taking that job from Master.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this chapter was bad, I had to rewrite it three or four times and I'm still not happy with it but I want to move onto the next chapter already so I decided to go with this version.   
> -Lilac

The sun looked down on Gajeel as he made his way on a dirt path to a job. He was confused as to why he was walking when he felt a soft tug on his shirt. 

“Gajeel, what job did you need my help with?” 

Gajeel turned, surprised to see Levy walking by his side and she looked happy. She was no longer hiding behind an object to get away from him.

“What are you talking about? Where did you even come from?” Gajeel asked as he looked down at the job request he was holding. 

“You dummy! You told me to come with you because you needed my help,” Levy said as she pouted. 

“I never asked you?” 

“You did, you wrote me a letter,” Levy said as she fished out a letter which Gajeel snatched. 

“This isn’t from me,” Gajeel said as he read it - the handwriting was the same he had to give her that. 

“Then who-?”

“Can’t you see it was a trick?!” A deep voice shouted. 

Gajeel turned around to see a hooded figure standing nearby and in the second he blinked the world had turned dark. 

“Shorty, get behind me,” Gajeel growled out as he tried to figure out what happened and why he could not get anything from the mysterious person. 

There was nothing about the person that stood out and he was not able to figure out how the person had snuck up on them. 

“Gajeel, why?” Levy said as though she were in pain. 

Gajeel turned around to see her in that same state, his heart stopped as he saw her on the tree. She looked at him with watery eyes as blood dripped down her stomach instead of paint. 

“I didn’t!” Gajeel shouted as he rushed to get her down.

Instead, the other person came at her with a lighting fist - she screamed in an almost inhumane way as the person struck her in the stomach. 

“Stop!” Gajeel shouted as he tried to turn his hand into iron to redirect the lightning but it did not work. “My magic isn’t working,” Gajeel said in shock.

He stared at his trembling hand. 

She cried in pain as the other chuckled.

“Of course it does, you just used it to hurt her,” The person said. 

The hood fell off and Gajeel froze as he saw himself. He then looked down at his hand to see her blood on his hands and when he looked up, he realized he had become the hooded figure.

“Levy!” 

Gajeel gasped as he sat up in bed. 

A cold layer of sweat covered every inch of his body as he gasped, his hands trembled as he brought them over his head to instead them. 

It had just been a horrible nightmare. 

Gajeel grunted as he shifted to look at the clock, it was barely four in the morning but he knew he would not be able to sleep now. Every time he awoke from a nightmare about Levy, he could never fall asleep no matter the time. 

He stared up at the wall, his heart still calming down from what he had dreamt. He had never gotten nightmares from things he had done before so what made her different? 

If it had been because she was small, he had once beat up a woman who looked much younger - granted she was an evil witch who had been bathing in the blood of children for years to keep her looks. 

If it had been because she had done no wrong, he had beat up prior guildmates in Phantom Lord because they interrupted his meal. 

Gajeel let out a sigh as he headed to get ready to train, he found it better to train after nightmares than to let himself hate himself even more. He stared at himself in the mirror, he looked tired.

Gajeel pulled himself out of the bathroom and glanced over where the paper doll was. Seeing as it was still there, Gajeel felt himself ease up. 

He left the apartment and soon walked the nearly-empty streets. His stomach growled making him realize he forgot to eat but then he remembered he had no food stored. 

The majority of the shops were closed so his best bet would be to catch something in the forest. Though, he would have a hard time lighting a fire without any fire starting lacrimas. For a second he envied Natsu, however, before his brain even got to finish thinking that he laughed at himself. 

Yeah, like he would envy that idiot. 

“Gajeel?”

Gajeel turned to see the reason he was even up. 

“Why the hell are you up?” Gajeel asked as he looked down at the younger mage. 

She looked pretty battered up and tired and her two lackeys were nowhere to be seen. 

“We just got back from a mission. They were both really sick so I had to take them to the hospital,” Levy said as she clutched onto her bag. 

“They’re weak,” Gajeel muttered more so to himself but Levy heard. 

“Gajeel! You should really try being nicer to them, I may have forgiven you but they’re having a harder time,” Levy said as she tried to look scary as she looked up at him but she seemed like she was drunk. 

“Tch, yer annoying me this early, I’m leaving,” Gajeel muttered as he turned to leave.

Suddenly, he heard a soft gasp and a loud sound. He turned around to see Levy passed out on the ground. 

“Yo, what’s wrong?” Gajeel asked slightly panicked as he knelt down next to her and grabbed her shoulders. 

He cursed at himself when her head hung down limply and there was no response from her, she was still breathing so that calmed him slightly.

“Shit,” Gajeel muttered as he looked around but no one was there to help. 

As he picked her up, bad memories of their first encounter came flooding into his head. He felt sick as he carried her to the hospital. Maybe he should change up his appearance so that no one would recognize him?

Gajeel thought about it but he did not want to keep Levy from the healers any longer. 

In the end, he had her admitted and he threatened the nurse not to tell anyone it had been him. He quickly left after making sure she would be okay before threatening some more people to keep their mouths shut. 

Turned out she fainted from fatigue and she just needed to sleep. 

By the time he had arrived at the forest in his favorite training spot, the sun was peaking up yet his head was stuck thinking about her. 

Even when he sat under a waterfall to meditate, he could not clear his head of the other. 

~~~

“Are you going to be in the Fantasia parade?”

Gajeel grunted as he looked at his employer, Gajeel looked around in case anyone had appeared out of nowhere but it was clear the woman was talking to him. 

“What’s that?” Gajeel asked as he continued to search for her lost family ring. 

“It’s the big end of the Harvest Festival! It’s hosted by Fairy Tail every year, and in the parade, their wizards ride on floats and use their magic to entertain the watchers,” The woman said excitedly. 

“I haven’t been at the guild much,” Gajeel replied. 

He was on his third job that week, he did recall Mirajane trying to tell him something before he left several times but he brushed her off. He had a reason for working so hard and it was simple, he had overheard Salamander fighting with Gray and bragging how many job requests he had done that year. 

It just so happened Gajeel had a very similar number so he had to surpass that flame-brained idiot. 

“I would like to see you in the parade, will you take part?” The woman asked as Gajeel internally rolled his eyes.

“Those types of things just ain’t my style, also I found it,” Gajeel said as he pulled out the ring from the rubble of a house. 

He had had a hard time locating the damn thing since the house and the possessions all smelled like her so he had to do it the old fashion way and search by trial and error. 

“Oh thank you so much!” The lady exclaimed as she took the ring and smiled widely as she hugged it. 

Gajeel stood awkwardly as the woman had her moment - he was more than glad to leave once he got paid. 

He soon found himself on the train back, he watched as the world passed by. He grabbed a few nails from his pocket, the woman had let him take some scrap pieces of iron he found since none of it was important to her. 

By the time Gajeel finished eating the iron, the train had arrived and he gladly got off. He did not like the idea of being in such a cramped space. 

Gajeel found himself walking through decorated streets as people walked about talking excitedly. He hated events like that since he would always stick out for either looking agitated or being alone. 

Either way, he was not happy when he entered the guild and found it being decorated. 

“Gajeel, we could use your help finishing up some floats,” Wakaba commented. 

“Yeah, your magic could really speed the process up,” Macao said as he sat down his mug filled with beer. 

“Keep me out of this, ain’t none of my business,” Gajeel said as he walked over to Mirajane who was serving the cowgirl with green hair. 

“If you’re part of Fairy Tail, this is one of the things expected from you,” Mirajane said with a smile. 

Bisca scoffed as she turned to Alzack who was already eating, “When was the last time Laxus joined? In all my years here I’ve never seen him in it.”

“Oh, you know Laxus would be part of it if he weren’t away on missions. According to Levy, he came back but Master isn’t too happy about it,” Mirajane said as she walked over to Gajeel who was irritated. 

That was the jerk who attacked Levy even though she was his guildmate, he reminded him of the person he used to be. Seeing it from an outside perspective made Gajeel regret not changing sooner. 

“Gajeel, Juvia wants to know if you’re going to be part of the parade.” 

Gajeel grunted as he looked up at Mirajane and ordered whatever came to mind first which just so happened to be chicken. 

“Where’s the stripper?” Gajeel asked as he looked around for the stripper his friend had fallen madly in love with. 

“He’s picking up his outfit for tomorrow. Oh, Juvia gets to be next to Gray-sama on the float!” Juvia said happily as Gajeel. 

Gajeel shook his head, “I can’t believe yer gonna do it.”

“Juvia is sure the others would be glad to have you in it and your magic could really impress the crowd!

“I ain’t no show cat,” Gajeel retorted.

“Still, it’s a form of exposure and it might pull in one or two personal requests.”

Gajeel and Juvia turned to see the guy who ran the merchandise shop. 

“I’m Max, by the way, I got to say, if people actually saw your magic then more of your figures would have sold by now,” Max said as he sat down and waved Mirajane over. 

“What the hell do you know,” Gajeel muttered as he took his meal from Mirajane. 

“Juvia’s are selling but not as much as they should with her magic, also if you were a girl it would be easier, you’ve only gotten one figure sold,” Max said before grabbing a drink and walking away. 

Gajeel’s mood got even worse but the other part of him got very curious as to who would even want a figure of him. 

~~~

“I got conned,” Levy muttered as she sat on her bed. 

The little assembled Gajeel laid down, staring up at her as she flushed in shame. She did not intend on buying any merchandise since it would be weird to own a figure or object of another member but her attention had been caught when she overheard the others say that each of their figures came with a little book with information on them. 

She loved reading - maybe a little too much. 

Then she heard that Gajeel’s figures were not selling and she put two and two together. If she bought one, he would get a sale and she would get some more information on him. 

Imagine her disappointment when the book turned out to be a manual with information on how to assemble the figure and it had generic things about him. It had his height, age, the day he joined, and what magic he used. 

She was quick to hide her shame in the bottom drawer. 

~~~

“What the hell is going on here?” Gajeel asked and finished with a yawn.

“We’re holding the Miss Fairy Tail contest in the guild, aren’t you here to watch?” Max asked as he fiddled with his bowtie. 

“Hell no, I just came to lounge in the guild,” Gajeel muttered. 

“Well your friend Juvia is entering too,” Max said.

“Tch, what do I care?” 

“Well, the other contestants are Cana, Mirajane, Erza, Levy-”

“If I say I’ll stay and watch will that make you shut up?” Gajeel abruptly asked. 

“You know it!” 

“Fine,” Gajeel said annoyed as he looked at the strangers in the guild. 

It turned out he did not have to wait long before the contest started.

Gajeel watched as the girls got called out to the stage one by one, he had to say maybe Juvia’s little crush on the stripper was getting a bit out of hand. Either way, when Mirajane came up he had not been expecting her to transform into his face. 

When Levy came on, Gajeel listened as some men groaned since she was not wearing anything revealing. 

“I don’t even want to see her body,” A random man said. 

Gajeel bit down hard on his lip to keep himself from strangling the man and flinched when a metallic liquid hit his tongue.

“Let me show you my solid script!” Levy shouted as she smiled.

Gajeel watched as several magic words appeared and he heard her two sidekicks faun over her. 

Since she could make metal, then she could make iron, right?

Gajeel shook his head as he got up and headed to the bar. Without Mirajane there, he would be able to eat more of the platters without getting in trouble. 

As soon as he got to the bar, he heard people screaming and running away. He was quick to hop over the counter to avoid being trampled. In the bit he had stopped paying attention, there was suddenly a statue of all the girls on the stage. 

“Don’t be a fool, return them to normal this instant!” Master Makarov shouted and Gajeel realized that the girls had been turned to stone. 

Every single one of them. 

There was a ball of lightning that struck down and Laxus was revealed, he looked just as messed up as the first time he had run into him. 

He listened to the guy talk when he struck down lightning he was surprised to see he had not struck the blondie. He knew damn well that guy had no problem striking down his guildmates. 

“In other words, I’m taking all of these chicks as hostages. Break the rules and I’ll shatter these chicks one by one or I could just smash them all right now.”

Gajeel clenched his first, he had not let him strike Levy with lightning before and there was no way he would let him try it again. 

He listened as the guy and his team talked about a contest to determine who was the strongest in the guild. As much as he wanted to take part in the game if he left there was a chance that Laxus would strike Levy down. 

Gajeel watched as Salamander attacked Laxus, he knew how much one of those punches hurt and since he did not have his own personal armor then he would be in pa-

“Ah!” Natsu shouted as he fell back down after being struck by lightning. 

Maybe he had underestimated the other a bit. 

“Naturally if you want to turn the girls back to normal, you’ll have to defeat us,” The girl said. 

“But those odds aren’t bad, there’s four of us and like a hundred of you guys,” The guy with the mask said. 

“You have three hours and not a second more. After that these statures of yours will be reduced to dust,” The woman said and Gajeel clenched his fist. 

He would just have to hope that the others were strong enough to defeat them, by how arrogant they were he was positive they were all strong. With him staying to guard Levy, Juvia, and maybe the others from lightning, and Salamander down, he hoped some of them were strong enough.

Maybe the stripper was strong enough?

“Laxus how could you do this? I won’t stand for this!” The Master roared out as he became a giant.

“Now, now, simmer down old man. It’s all part of the festival right? It’ll be fun! Let the battle of Fairy Tail begin!” Laxus said as he exited in the same form he had arrived. 

The others got riled up and stormed out of the guild, Gajeel took that time to hide behind the counter. He really wanted to take part in the games. 

Why was he staying to protect her? Juvia had come as a second thought even though she was the only person he thought of as a friend. 

His mind went back to the nightmare he had had a few days ago, the one where he had struck Levy with his iron fist that was conducting electricity. 

What was wrong with him?


	4. Chapter 4

Gajeel was getting sick of sitting around waiting for something to happen, he listened as the Master and Natsu talked about who was fighting who since it helped him avoid thinking about why he had told himself to protect Levy. The more he heard, the more he realized he should have gone out with the others. 

Without him and Salamander, the others were getting creamed. 

And then there was the paper doll. It slipped in from a window and Ivan asked what was happening which Gajeel begrudgingly whispered out, for a dragon slayer, Natsu had horrible hearing at times. 

When Laxus’s projection appeared, he heard them come to the same realization that the stripper would be the one to carry them and hopefully save the girls. He clenched his teeth when he heard that Gray had been defeated and Laxus mocked them for it. 

Maybe it was time for him to go. Since Salamander and the Master were both stuck here, they could protect the girls. 

“All right, who’s gonna beat the Thunder Legion now, old man?”

“Gajeel will!” The blue cat shouted. 

“I don’t think so, he’s made it clear that he doesn’t want to play. Which doesn’t surprise me, that guy couldn’t care less what happened to the guild,” Laxus said. 

Gajeel frowned, while he had been thinking he realized another factor why he had chosen to stay and protect Levy and Juvia. He still had to fix his image with the others and going out and beating them all up would deteriorate the little trust he had managed to build up. 

“Enough, it isn’t worth it. I surrender, all right?” Master said. “You’ve had your fun now stop this.” 

“I thought you were the master of the almighty Fairy Tail guild? You can’t just give up like that! But if you insist on quitting then, by all means, hand the guild over to me and take an early retirement.”

Gajeel was getting sick of listening to that guy speak, if he were there he would have attacked him by now. He had to keep his cool though and- 

“You’ve only got an hour and a half before the statues crumble,” Laxus said. 

It was time to let his presence be known, but how? Gajeel eyed the platters he had gone there to eat but he ended up not eating them since it would make noise and draw attention to him. 

He grabbed one when the blue cat spoke, “ There must be someone who can beat Laxus and his pals.”

He bit into the pan he grabbed before pulling himself up and revealing himself to the others. 

“No way! You were here this whole time?” Salamander asked in shock. 

“He’s eating the dishes too!” The cat said as Gajeel finished eating the pot. 

“Gajeel, will you fight for the guild?’ Master asked. 

“Might as well, I have a score to settle with that guy,” Gajeel said as he stepped towards the entrance. “Don’t worry, I’ll handle him.” 

Gajeel was excited to go out and fight, the whole waiting thing was not for him. As he stepped forward, he was shocked when he slammed into the invisible wall just like Master and Salamander had done. 

“Ah!” They all screamed. 

He punched the wall just in shock. 

“Don’t tell me you’re over 80 too?!” Salamander shouted. 

“Do I look 80 to you?!” Gajeel shouted back. 

He glared at Natsu who glared back at him. 

“I don’t understand why you two can’t go through the enchantment,” Master muttered to himself.

Gajeel grumbled as he looked up at the screen to show who was fighting, the cowboy guy had lost leaving two members left. 

“Only two left in the guild?” Master said in shock. 

To think he had trusted those guys to save the girls. 

“Are you sure you’re not faking being stuck in here?! You tryin’ to copy me?” Natsu accused Gajeel.

“In your dreams!” Gajeel retorted. 

“Now I’m hungry and it’s all your fault, jerk!” Natsu shouted. 

“Quit blaming everything on me!” Gajeel shouted back in annoyance. 

“If you’re not gonna fight then at least go get me some food!”

Gajeel was about to hit Natsu with a witty comeback when Master pointed out that they were the two left. He listened to the Master admit his defeat when the flame brain idiot spoke. 

“I’ve got no choice, guess I’ll bring Erza back.”

“Do what?” Master said in shock.

Gajeel watched as Natsu walked over to the statues, he wondered what the idiot was going to do. Perhaps he knew some secret potion recipe or a magic that could-

“I’m going to use my fire on her. Ya know, to melt the stone off.”

And he’s an idiot. 

Despite every fiber of his being telling him it would not work, Gajeel still walked over to watch him try to turn Erza back. 

“Please be careful!” The master shouted as Natsu reached towards Erza’s chest with his hands covered in fire. 

“No joke, watch where you put those fire hands, bro,” Gajeel said. 

Suddenly there was a crack on her forehead and his stomach dropped, Natsu would cause her to crumble right then and there!

“I didn’t mean to break her, someone get me the glue!” Natsu shouted in a panic. “Quick! Happy! Gue!” 

“Do we have glue?” The cat shouted in a panic as he flew around. 

“That’s not gonna do anything, you idiot! We gotta use your fire and my iron to weld her back together!” Gajeel shouted, sometimes he thought of himself as a genius of sorts. 

Natsu started to beg Erza for forgiveness on his knees when the statue started to crack more and Gajeel could feel his soul leaving his body. He was an accessory of a murder!

Suddenly, Erza was sitting staring back at them in confusion. Everything seemed to come back to her and she punched Gajeel and Natsu sending them flying. Gajeel could not help but wonder why the hell he was getting punched as well!

Gajeel stayed silent as he listened to Erza explain what she knew, He wondered if she could take the lightning freak down when the number of members went from three to four. Perhaps someone had gotten up from being put down?

“It went up,” Gajeel pointed out, perhaps one of them knew why though he doubted it when the Master also seemed confused. 

“Aren’t you guys forgetting about someone? A member who’s frequently out of town?” Erza asked smugly when it was revealed none of the girls had come back. 

Everyone seemed to know exactly who and Gajeel was slightly annoyed to be out of the loop, he decided to step into the conversation since everyone seemed to forget he had no idea who it was. 

Gajeel froze when he heard that it was someone who might be the strongest in the guild. He wondered if he was the one who had taken out the other Phantom Lord locations when they had fought. 

He thought it was a rumor that just one guy defeated them all, he thought that there were hidden members who attacked. At first, he thought it was the lightning guy and his buddies but maybe not. 

“Hey, will you stop eating the plates you iron-head?” Natsu shouted as Gajeel looked up to find himself eating from what he stashed in his pockets. 

“Well, what else am I supposed to do? I can’t leave and she’s taking her sweet time.”

As though to prove him wrong, the stone girls turned back to their original forms. The girls seemed confused as to what was happening and the master got confident since Laxus’s plans fell apart. 

Gajeel silently listened to the girls talking about getting revenge while the master talked about beating the guy but then the idiot spoke about fighting the girls. 

“Tch, he’s an idiot,” Gajeel muttered under his breath. 

“Why such a serious expression?” Juvia asked Gajeel as Natsu began to playfully chase Lucy around. 

“It’s nothing,” Gajeel muttered, the paper doll rested heavy in his pocket. 

Juvia seemed to buy it, Gajeel did not think about how she would react if she learned of his mission. 

“This guild is rather fun, isn’t it?” 

“It ain’t boring, at least,” Gajeel said as he looked away from her, the weight of his mission from the Master was sinking in. 

Maybe, he should have told him no. 

When the lightning guy appeared, Gajeel silently watched things unfold. That guy, he reminded him of his past self especially when the lightning lacrimas floated above the city. The urge to fight him got stronger, with a good beating maybe the guild could help him change into a better person - like they were trying to do with him. 

He was no idiot, he knew that the others suddenly warmed up to him after letting Levy’s teammates rough him up and protecting her. They assumed they could change him. 

“Natsu!” 

Gajeel snapped into reality when Levy shouted out the idiot’s name as he slammed against the runes even though they both knew it was futile. 

“Stop! Just calm down,” She reasoned. “We’re not gonna get outta here that way.” 

Natsu muttered nonsense which Gajeel did not bother fully listening to. 

“It’s an enchantment,” She suddenly said. 

“Yeah, thanks, we already knew that,” Gajeel said slightly annoyed. 

“Well since it’s a kind of script magic, I think I might be able to break the spell,” Levy said happily. 

“Oh yeah?” Gajeel asked surprised. 

He had heard that she was one of the smartest if not the smartest in the guild but then again, he had no idea if what she was saying would be easy or hard. She was also confident about her abilities to get them out, she might be small but she was capable of some big things. 

“Hey, can you help carry some books in from the guild library?” Levy asked. 

Gajeel looked down at her, “Who? Me?”

“Well, yeah. Between you and me, Natsu is very likely to get distracted with something else in the library or burn something and we don’t have that type of time,” Levy said as she smiled and looked up at him. 

“Yeah, sure, lead the way.”

Gajeel followed her into the library and helped her get the books from the word magic section, as he piled on books she suddenly spoke. 

“Thank you for taking me to the hospital the other day.” 

Gajeel froze, he had told those doctors not to say it was him!

“I don’t know what yer-”

“I saw you leaving the room. Also, I have a theory as to why you and Natsu can’t leave the guild despite not being statues or over the age maximum,” Levy said as Gajeel placed another book in the pile. 

“Oh yeah, what is it?”

“Well, you and Natsu both use the lost magic - dragon slaying magic - and it was used in ancient times when dragons still existed so maybe since you two were taught lost magic by actual dragons and not a lacrima, maybe that’s what preventing you two from leaving. In other words, you two may be young but the magic within you is old.” 

Gajeel’s eyes were wide before he smirked and took the book from Levy’shands, she already had too many in her stack. 

“I hear you’re the smartest in the guild, we can’t have you hurting yourself, now can we?” Gajeel asked as he gently hit the top of her head before walking away with the stack of books. “You have the smarts and I have the strength but for me to be useful, you need to get me and the pyro out of here to beat the lightning guy.”

Levy smiled to herself before following him, he was changing. 

When the two arrived back upstairs, Levy had him put the books near the entrance so she could see the ruins closely. She quickly got to work and Gajeel sat near her to watch her work. The first thing he noticed was that she tired her hair back and wore magic glasses to speed read through the books. 

“Hmm, if I break down the,” Levy continued to talk out loud as she hovered over her work. 

Gajeel stopped being able to understand after she said ‘break down.’

“Wow, you’re something else. We speak the same language, but I don’t have a clue what you’re saying, ” He said in disbelief, her writing looked like a bunch of scribbles to him too. 

“Wait, hold on!” 

Gajeel looked up at her as she looked at him, she looked serious and he could almost see the gears in her head running. 

“The L and S are nothing but bluffs! That means the key code must be “arth”!” She said and Gajeel felt dumb. 

“Uh, sure thing.” 

“I’m almost there, don’t worry,” Levy said as she began scribbling again. 

She slid part of her hair that was not tied back behind her ear and Gajeel looked up from the paper to her face. She looked…

Gajeel did not finish the thought. 

“I promise I’ll get you guys out of here,” Levy said. 

Gajeel looked away in guilt, “It’s no big deal to me.”

“Well, it is to me,” Gajeel looked back at her as she looked him dead in the eyes. “You have to stop Laxus.” 

Natsu hit the runes again making them both look over before she looked at the paper again. Gajeel looked away as he gripped his leg, he felt the paper doll crumble slightly at his grip. 

“I already told you, you have the smarts and I have the strength. I’ll beat him, don’t think of it as a what you call it? Theory? Anyways, just know it’s a fact,” Gajeel muttered. 

Levy hummed as she opened another book and then proceeded to scribble down more words. 

“Levy, how’s it going? Usually, you don’t take this long,” Natsu said after a few minutes and Gajeel noted how she seemed to freeze. 

“I’m sorry, I slacked off on ancient scripts and now I’m taking so long to decode it. I should have learned more about Freed’s runes,” Levy whispered and Gajeel scowled. 

“Don’t be apologizing for something so stupid, you know we’re the ones who should be sorry for distracting you. Let’s go flame brain, someone’s done fighting,” Gajeel said and Natsu went back quickly. 

“Bickslow and Lucy?” Natsu asked as soon as they got there. “Whoa, Lucy kicked his butt,” Natsu said with a smile. 

Gajeel was surprised, “No way! That little princess can actually fight?”

“Yeah, she’s as tough as nails.”

“She’s just a cheerleader!”

Natsu hit tried to prove Gajeel wrong by bringing up the story of the turtle and cheerleader but by opening his mouth, Gajeel already knew it was something stupid. Then they were arguing about the stupid children’s story. 

Suddenly, Levy sat up shouting, “That’s it!”

“What’s what?” Gajeel and Natsu asked as they turned around to see her quickly writing something else after hearing their stupid argument. 

Gajeel was once again impressed by her. 

“That’s it!” She said with a smile as she stood up and both guys were pumped. “Just give me a second, I need to rewrite the enchantment,” She said as she held up her papers. “This is it, you guys. When I’m through here, you two will join the Battle of Fairy Tail, I hope you’re ready.” 

Gajeel smirked as he crossed his arms, “It’s time to take out the trash.” 

“My catchphrase was way cooler,” Natsu said and Gajeel’s eyebrow twitched. 

“This ain’t a damn competition you idiot, I easily could’ve said something cooler!” Gajeel said as he frowned. 

“Tell me one then!” Natsu challenged. 

“Guys, it’s done,” Levy said as she turned to them. “Now guys, I want you to listen closely, we can’t risk the two of you getting caught up in one of Freed’s enhancements so you’re going to have to separate. Got it?” 

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll find him first anyways!” Natsu said before running out leaving Gajeel scowling. 

“Go on, he’s going to need your help< Levy said as Gajeel stayed. 

“I just wanted to know if you have any idea where he could be hiding?” Gajeel asked. 

“No, I’m sorry. Now go on, I did my part as the smarts so now your part is up,” Levy said and Gajeel smirked. 

“Damn right.” 

Gajeel ran out and Levy let out a sigh as she looked back at the pile of books, she was caught slacking and had been a hindrance. She made up her mind to learn about the different types of runes as well as more ancient scripts and she would be ready if there were to be a next time. 

Levy shook her head as she picked closed books and put them in little stacks, she had to out them back herself. She should have had them put the books back when she rewrote the enchantment. 

~~~

“I see you’ve infiltrated successfully,” Ivan said through the paper doll. 

“I want to settle the score with Salamander so bad I can taste it, but that lightning idiot has really been working my last nerve lately so he’s my priority for now. If that’s okay with you, Master Ivan?” 

“Of course my boy, earning the trust of Makarov and the others is paramount. We must not let suspicion creep into their minds. Remember to always act as though your heart and soul belong to Fairy Tail.”

‘As far as they know, I’m a team player,” Gajeel replied. 

“We have ample time before the hammer drops on that sorry excuse for a guild.”

Gajeel smirked, “Yes, sir.” 

“Next time you come, we’ll have moved. We’re going to be moving to an abandoned village near the Warrs Forest. Destroy this communicator, it would be better for you to stay away for a bit since the guild will trust you from saving them. Do let me know if something interesting happens, you know how.” 

Gajeel disposed of the communicator before sighing, that man was a serious piece of work. He wondered how it was that the Master raised several of the members and they came out decent but his own son came out a bad person. 

~~~

Gajeel clenched his fist, the flame brain had reached him first. He could feel the static all around as he got closer to the church. As soon as he entered, he saw the lightning going straight for Natsu. 

“Idiot!”

The sound was muted by the crying lightning, he managed to get Natsu out of the way right in the nick of time. 

“That’s no way to treat one of your comrades,” Gajeel said after hearing the idiot laughing after thinking he killed Natsu. “Only a nutjob like you would be so giddy about taking down one of his friends. Thankfully I got to him before you did, I want to be the one to take this kid out.”

Gajeel jumped down and dropped Natsu, he looked at Laxus, he took after his father for sure. 

Even if he was a psycho and had the blood of the Master, Gajeel knew he could stand a chance...as long as Natsu partnered up with him. 

He had told Levy he would beat Laxus and to do that while he was in that mental state, there was no other option than to team up against him.


	5. Chapter 5

The static around the church felt heavy and hot, perhaps the hot part came from Natu’s flames though. Either way, the amount of magical energy around was even bigger and it continued to get bigger as Laxus gathered more to perform Fairy Law. 

Gajeel was still in shock after finding out that Laxus was a dragon slayer. Neither the Master nor Ivan had mentioned it. 

He was currently on the ground trembling as the lightning ran through him and he felt completely powerless to stop Laxus. That was when her voice came out. 

“Laxus, stop!” 

Gajeel’s eyes widened as he clenched his teeth, “You idiot! What are you doing here?!” 

If Laxus tried to hurt her, he would not be able to make it in time. He still could not stand up! Just a little bit more time...

“You’ve got to see the master, he doesn’t have much time! Master Makarov, I mean your grandfather, is close to death!”

Gajeel let out a sound of surprise at the news. 

“Stop this now! Go see him one last time, please hurry before it’s too late!” There was silence from Laxus, Levy’s tears threatened to fall as she closed her eyes and clenched her fist, “Please, Laxus!” 

The moment Laxus began to speak, Gajeel already knew what he was going to say. Levy gasped in surprise when she heard him essentially glad about his grandfather’s condition. 

“Damn you,” Gajeel grunted.

His muscles were still spasming but he could manage after just a little more rest. He did not know if he had that time. 

Levy fell to her knees in horror, “No, Laxus…”

Suddenly, Laxus uttered the name of the enchantment.

The light was so bright but even with death facing him, Gajeel did not feel fear. Something within him told him it was not his time yet. And then there was Levy, would she be okay? Did he fail at protecting her?

As quickly as it came, the light left and Gajeel was coughing since there was some dust left by it. He coughed and ignored Laxus, what if the spell had avoided him because of his magic or something like that? He needed to know that she was okay. 

“Levy, are you alright?” Gajeel asked - the failed spell had offered him the time to get better. 

“Mm, but what about Natsu? Is he okay?” Levy asked softly. 

Hearing her voice calmed him, “Looks just fine to me,” Gajeel responded. 

She was safe, he did not fail to protect her. 

Suddenly, there was a green-haired man at the entrance explaining that Laxus did not harm anyone and then Levy joined in to explain his magic could see through him and that he did not actually want to hurt those he swears he did. 

“The truth is, anyone who would dare stand in my way is my enemy!” Laxus shouted as he began to gather lightning. 

“Get behind me,” Gajeel ordered Levy as he stood up. 

“Let the old man die for all I care! He’s nothing to me! He may be family but I’m stronger!” Laxus shouted as he released the lightning. 

Levy cried out in fear as Gajeel stood protectively in front of her, “You okay?” Gajeel asked as Natsu began to shout back at Laxus. 

“Yes, just a bit rattled. I should be the one worried about you, you’re hurt,” Levy said as she gently grabbed his arm. “Let me help you.” 

Gajeel was about to protest when Laxus and Natsu shot out of the building, looked like the fire- brain had it under control. Levy took his silence as an agreement and slung his arm over her shoulder. 

“Come on.”

Gajeel grunted in response as they walked over to the green-haired guy all while watching the other two fight. Natsu was on the roof, trembling. 

“Natsu!” Levy shouted in shock. 

He proceeded to get hit with another shot of lightning, Gajeel knew if worse came to worse he could block another of Laxus’s attacks with his iron but in his condition, only one. 

“Natsu, please be careful,” Levy shouted, her grip tightened just slightly on Gajeel’s forearm. 

“That spell! Don’t do it! That much magical energy could kill him!” Green-haired shouted. 

“Let go,” Gajeel ordered. 

“But!” Levy looked up at him but he was watching the fight with a glare. 

She knew what he was going to do.

“I’m fine,” Gajeel said as he looked down at her and caught her eye. 

Levy closed her eyes as she let go and felt his weight disappear.

Laxus simply laughed, “Lightning dragon: Heavenward Halberd!”

The lightning cried out and Levy led her fists to her face, she whimpered. She heard his grunt of pain, she opened her eyes to see him falling. 

“Gajeel!” 

“What the...what happened? Did he use himself as a lightning rod?” Freed asked aloud. 

“Get him!” Gajeel shouted to Natsu. 

Gajeel let out a grunt as he laid in the rubble from the church. If that loser lost he would help Laxus beat him up even more. 

He watched the fight and smirked when Natsu sent him down, he had no idea where he got his power but it was good at that moment. He let out a sigh as he tried to move but to not much avail. 

“You’re such an idiot sometimes.”

Gajeel looked over to see Levy standing with tears in her eyes, he ticked his tongue in annoyance as he looked away. 

“Without me, he would have lost. I was just looking for the best way to beat Laxus. If I weren’t so weak toward lightning then I would have let Natsu get hurt and beat Laxus all on my own. He wouldn’t have even been able to try Fairy Law!” 

Levy giggled as she walked over to him, “I never said it was a bad thing. I just wish you would think a little more before acting, I mean look how hurt you are!” She chided as she walked to his side and sighed. 

“If you’re going to nag then leave me here,” Gajeel muttered and groaned when he felt her trying to pull him up. “Yer too weak, just let me get the feeling back in my body. I’ll do it myself.” 

Levy huffed as she pulled harder, “I can do it!” 

Gajeel groaned in pain as she continued to try, in the end, he ended up getting up himself and draped against her for support. He felt bad as he heard her gasp as she stumbled helping him. 

They had never been so glad to see the ice stripper and have him help Gajeel into the infirmary. Gajeel had noticed Levy’s little breath of relief when she saw help, if it were anyone else he would be offended but she deserved some slack since she was so small. 

~~~

“But she said-” 

“I don’t give a damn what she said! Yer not staying with me until I heal,” Gajeel snapped as Juvia looked at him from the stool next to the bed. 

“You were hurt so badly though, let Juvia help while you heal,” Erza said as she looked over from where Master was resting. 

“I don’t need anyone’s help,” Gajeel bit out.

“Juvia thinks-”

“Look, if you want to help me then get me some iron, I’m starving.” 

There was a thunk and then Juvia was freaking out as Gajeel glared at Erza and was about to start cursing her out when he noticed it was a bag full of iron. 

“Levy said you might heal faster with iron and convinced me to give you my old equipment to eat. They may be roughed up and dull but they’re some quality iron,” Erza said. 

Gajeel opened the bag to find chipped and broken weapons as well as a random iron helmet. Though he was skeptical about the quality, Erza turned out to have a great taste in iron. 

Erza and Juvia shied away from Gajeel as he inhaled the iron, Erza looked uncomfortable as she leaned over and whispered to Juvia. 

“Does he always look that...unpleasant when eating?”

“Juvia thinks he’s gotten better compared to the first time I saw him eat iron.” 

Erza trembled and Gajeel pretended he did not hear their insults. 

“Thanks for the meal, I feel great. Well, see ya,” Gajeel said as he sat up and began to get out of the bed causing both girls to stir. 

“Gajeel, you need to rest,” Juvia tried to plea but he grabbed his crutch and started to pull himself up. 

“That’s what I’m doing, it’s too noisy here. I’m going back to my place to sleep,” Gajeel said. 

“Gajeel, you haven’t been resting for long. Besides, today is the parade, don’t you want to see it?” Erza asked. 

Before Gajeel could respond, the Master muttered out something about it being too loud. Gajeel knew their attention was diverted so so he got up. 

He managed to take one step when the blondie walked in with the blue cat. 

“Gajeel, you can leave already?” Lucy asked and Gajeel scowled as he felt everyone staring at him. 

“I’m not weak like the flame-brain so of course, I can,” Gajeel said as he looked over to where Natsu was still sleeping. 

“I’m not weak!” Natsu shouted as he sat up but it sounded muffled to everyone but Gajeel. 

“Oh yeah? Then why can I stand up and you can’t?” Gajeel tested and Natsu shouted. 

The idiot shouted that he would not be outdone by a metal can which in turn made Gajeel shout at him. The two started shouting and it was so loud that the master kicked them all out. 

“Tch,” Gajeel muttered as he made his way to the common area as did the others. 

He ended up being forced to sit down next to Natsu as the others went to the stripper and Mirajane where they talked about the parade. Gajeel paid no attention until he heard Gray make a jab at him - and Natsu - not being part of the parade because they were so injured. 

“Screw you and your parade,” Gajeel bit out.

They really dared to think he wanted to be in the damn thing? 

Gajeel listened to Natsu talking about how he would be in the parade, his bandages made it a bit muffled but he still heard Natsu. 

“Come on, how are you gonna be part of the action? You’re out,” Gajeel said. 

Natsu responded something stupid that made Gajeel uncomfortable. 

“That’s got nothing to do with it, bro. What the heck is your problem?” 

He started to argue with the idiot when Laxus came in. Gajeel silently watched as he walked and before he could say anything to Natsu, the idiot was already in front of Laxus declaring his future rematch. 

Once he explained it to the blondie who asked, she rubbed salt in his wounds. 

He knew they had not won, and he hated that it was two on one yet he and Natsu were so ruffed up. During that fight, Laxus only strengthened his idea that if he were there when his ex-guild had fought Fairy Tail, that he would have been killed.

“I’m kind of glad he didn’t, we did get Juvia and you which only made our guild stronger,” Gray said. 

Gajeel cringed as he heard Juvia let out a screech and shook his head as he turned to leave. He needed to go home now. 

~~~

Gajeel silently slipped out and thought he made a home run. He was glad when he got out without anyone to stop him, he had made sure to avoid Levy since she would have-

“Where are you going?” 

Gajeel turned to see Levy standing with the two guys standing behind her. 

“My place, I want a silent nap before the parade starts and I have to hear it.” 

“Oh! Jet can take you there quickly, can’t you Jet?” Levy asked.

Gajeel watched as Jet made an unpleasant face at Gajeel - one which he returned - before turning into a love-sick fool when Levy looked at him. 

“Of course I can!” 

“Wait, I don’t-”

Next thing Gajeel knew, he was in front of his building and Jet was gone. 

“Why the hell does he know where I live?” 

Gajeel shook his head as he entered and made his way to his place. Once inside, he walked over to his bed and lifted the mattress, he struggled to get the paper with Raven Tails dealings. He needed to add the new location of the guild and give it to the Master. 

Then his mission would be done, finally. 

Gajeel sighed as he took out a pencil and tried to remember the exact location. 

~~~

Gajeel yawned as he walked through the crowds of people. He had slept longer than he thought, at that rate he was not sure if he would be able to catch the master since the parade had already started. He was so close and then he saw the Master all dressed up. 

Oh man, he would not be caught dead in that thing. 

“Hey, master.”

The master looked away from the parade and down at Gajeel.

“You’re not gonna be in the parade, Gajeel?”

“I don’t like being in the spotlight.” 

“That can’t be true. You’re Mr. Shoo-be-do-ba!” 

Gajeel felt his face flush in embarrassment before shaking his head, he needed to complete his mission. 

“Here, this is for you,” Gajeel handed the master the information. “Sorry it took so long but I finally tracked down your son - Master Ivan. This should be his permanent location so you won’t have to try and pin him as well as a new location where he’s going to try out something.”

“Good work, my boy. I’m sorry it was so dangerous.” 

“No prob, I could handle it. It was actually kind of fun. That guy has no idea that I’m a double agent,” Gajeel said.

If his singing career never took off then he could take up acting. 

“Thank you I appreciate it, we can’t let him do as he pleases.”

It was then his turn and Gajeel smirked as he turned to go back home. Now that that mission was finished, he might just take a big job since he had no other reason not to. The small reward jobs were easy but they were rather boring. 

Maybe one where he had to slay a few monsters?

~~~

“Gajeel, you look gloomy,” Juvia said.

She was waiting for Gray to arrive at the guildhall. 

“The last job I took was a letdown, the reward made it seem like the monsters were strong but it was way too easy,” Gajeel grunted.

“Would you like to stay around for the reporter? If you play a song for him he could give you coverage and you could get a record deal! Juvia is so excited!” 

Gajeel was put off at first but Juvia knew how to work his interest. He could become a star if the reporter did his job properly! Yes. 

“I’ll be back, I gotta get dressed and get my guitar!” 

Juvia watched as Gajeel sped out of the guild, she turned to see the rest of the guild making a commotion about it. Back in Phantom Lord, they hardly got interviewed like that and she was rather excited to see how it went. 

“You’re here already, Juvia?” 

Juvia looked up at see Gray and she almost fainted. Oh, he was talking to her!

Meanwhile, Gajeel was making his way to his apartment when he noticed a little girl and Levy struggling to reach a balloon. Gajeel sucked his teeth as he looked away and continued on his way. 

“Tch, you should’ve gotten someone who can help,” Gajeel muttered as he reached the string with ease and brought the balloon down to the girl. 

She thanked them and ran off.

“I’m going to ignore that… Thanks, Gajeel, aren’t you going to the guild? We’re having a reporter come over. Maybe he or she would like to interview you.”

“I’m going home right now to get ready, what about you?” 

Levy seemed to blush as she tugged on a lock of her hair, “Ah, well, reporters usually ask me if I like Jet or Droy or someone else.” 

“You have more to ya than that, tell you what you can be my background dancer while I perform. I needed to do some charity work anyways,” Gajeel offhandedly teased her. 

“Gajeel, you idiot! I’m going to the guild!” 

Gajeel laughed as Levy ran off and shook his head. He headed back home and hoped he left the sunglasses in their right spot. Luck seemed to be on his side since his outfit was set up neatly and his guitar was in the same spot too.

When Gajeel went back, he practiced one of his older songs. If he played a new one, he might ruin his chance. He kept on practicing even as the guy freaked out about some of the other members. He had decided it was time to set up when he noticed everything was already set up!

Then he noticed why it was set up. 

The blondie was on the stage, she was going to take his spotlight! Not on his watch. 

“I got this blondie!” Gajeel shouted as he knocked her out of the way. “Shoo-be-do-ba!”

He smirked when the reporter seemed to be excited by him about to perform. Gajeel then began to perform and listened to praise from the hyper man. He was on his way to-

“Would you shut up?!” Natsu shouted. 

Gajeel was flung across the guild, if he had been on guard the fire-brain would have had to put a lot more strength into the punch. Still, he ruined his performance and he was not going to let that slide. 

“You little..!”

He and Natsu began to fight when the reporter got between his and Natsu’s hits. The guy ended up falling while Gajeel and Natsu froze. 

He could feel the piercing eyes of Erza, “Would you look at that? Gotta go walk my fish!” 

Gajeel fled past the rubble and grabbed his guitar before making a run for it, Natsu was already getting clobbered by Erza and he rather not bring her attention to him. He did not stop running until he got home and sat the guitar down. 

Fighting that loser had given him inspiration, he laughed as he pulled out his notepad. 

He was going to make that song fire.


	6. Chapter 6

“Gajeel, why did you fail me?” 

Gajeel squinted as there was blood and sweat stinging his eyes, he looked over to see Levy. She was badly injured and had tears in her eyes as Natsu laid on the ground unconscious. He knew the scene too well, the crackling electricity in the air was all too familiar. 

“I didn’t, I-” 

“Oh, but you did!” 

Gajeel looked in front of him, it was Laxus’s magic but he was the one wielding it. Gajeel clenched his teeth as he saw the other his staring at Levy and laughing evilly as he threw an attack at her. 

“Levy!” 

He tried to run but suddenly he was on the ground in pain from lightning trembling through him, he watched with tears as she got engulfed in lightning. Her screaming rang through his ears.

Gajeel gasped as he sat up, his nightmares about her seemed to update every time she was in danger. He twisted in discomfort on the forest ground, he had to focus on his job. He could not let himself be distracted from it because of a recurring nightmare. 

He ruffled his hair as he tried to figure out what time it was, the cowardly thieves were said to come out at one or two in the morning. He camped out near where the majority of attacks were made but he had heard nothing aside from the forest animals and insects.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” 

Gajeel had an agitated look on his face as he saw three buff men carrying pitiful weapons. 

“Are you three the thieves that have been attacking innocent villagers and travelers?”

“And what if we are? What are you gonna do? You don’t even have much,” The three said one after another. 

Gajeel smirked and did his little ‘gi-hi’ before bodying all three in less than a minute. He let out a yawn as he dragged the three men to the village, they had requested them to be brought back and they would deal with the rest. 

The village leader was pleased with Gajeel and paid him in full and even offered him a blanket made by his wife. Gajeel kindly said no and as he was making his way out when he overheard one of the three thieves whispering to the other two. 

“What are we going to do? Our guild can’t pay the new toll from Oracion Seis.”

Gajeel frowned, it seemed Oracion Seis were getting ready for something, he had to inform the master. 

~~~

“Gajeel, please come to my office,” The Master said. 

Gajeel yawned as he looked up at the Master, it was too early to get blamed on for missing screws throughout the town. 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever it is I ain’t do it,” Gajeel said. “Blame it on the manufacturers or something.”

The Master and other guild members all stared at him awkwardly, “Er, it’s about a job. Juvia is already waiting.” 

Gajeel grumbled as he got up, the last personal mission had been hard enough. How hard was the next one if Juvia had to help too?

The Master and Gajeel made their way to the office where they found Juvia sitting patiently. 

“Oh, Gajeel, you’re finally here!” Juvia exclaimed. 

“Yeah, yeah, what’s the mission?” Gajeel asked as he leaned against the wall. 

The Master coughed as he went to his desk and pulled out a job request paper. Both wizards watched as the master looked at the paper and then back at them. 

“With Laxus gone and Erza about to leave on a different mission that leaves us with two S-class wizards, one who is on a different job and Mirajane... I would never do this if things were not so desperate but seeing as you and Juvia used to be part of your old guilds S-class members, I shall be giving you two one to complete as soon as possible.”

The Master turned the paper and Gajeel and Juvia read over the request. Both froze as they read it. 

It was about capturing a troublesome wizard who seemed to have air and earth type magic and went to random villages to destroy them. The wizard could drain any wizard’s energy in an instant and also had the power to read people’s memories and recreate their worst memories. He’s known for crying yet talking in a slight french accent. 

“It sounds like Aria,” Gajeel muttered. 

“And Monsieur Sol,” Juvia finished. 

The Master nodded as he folded his hands together and had a grim look on his face, “I realized that too. I have reason to believe this wizard is both Aria and Sol, reports say that the wizard has white eyes with red ‘x’s. I believe someone cast a forbidden spell on them, one that absorbs two people together in another body - which amplifies not only their magic power but their magic spells.”

“Why the hell would someone want to absorb two others?”

“Juvia has a feeling, it has to do with dark guilds?” 

“I don’t know, but whoever cast it will not be alive when you two defeat him. The absorption magic comes at the cost of the life of the person absorbing the other two. It was magic first used before the dragon slayer magic was made in the hopes of defeating the dragons but it had more drawbacks than expected. You see, you two need to complete this mission quickly not only because of the danger they now possess but because if Aria and Sol spend three more days fused, they will no longer be able to come out of that host and they’ll fully forget their memories.”

Gajeel and Juvia stood up, “Come on. Give us the location, we don’t have time to spare.”

The Master nodded as he handed them the job request, the two wasted no time in heading to the train station. 

~~~

“Are you nervous about fighting them? Aria was the strongest of the Element four and Monsieur Sol was also a formidable wizard,” Juvia said as they grew closer to the village. 

The duo was said to go to villages and rampage before moving on, even if they were not still there, Gajeel could sniff them out. 

“Yer forgettin’ I was the second strongest and Aria was third. Even if their powers are combined, we can take them on. Yer strong too.”

Juvia let out a sigh as she drooped down a bit, “Juvia wishes Gray-sama was here.”

Gajeel rolled his eyes, “Why do you even like that ice stripper? He doesn’t like you back.”

“Juvia knows that. Juvia has to win Gray-sama’s heart!”   
Gajeel looked at her weirdly, he never understood how she had been able to move on so quickly. Maybe it was because she hardly took part in the fight against Fairy Tail. 

“Salut Mademoiselle, Monsieur, such a sorrowful day don’t you think? Non, non, non, it’s so sad for you two!” 

Gajeel and Juvia looked up to see the wizard, he stood in the center of rubble and dust. 

“Aria, Monsieur Sol, it’s us! Juvia and Gajeel, we used to be in a guild together, do you remember?” 

“Non, non, non,” The wizard said as his eyes began to glow. 

“He’s going to perform Zero!” Juvia shouted as she brought up her hands, “Water slicer!” 

“So sad!” The wizard shouted from behind Gajeel. “Met-”

Gajeel quickly jumped away from him and glared at him, “Get out of that body, Aria! I’ll beat ya senseless if I have to!” 

“That is so sad,” The wizard said before holding up his hands, “Roche Concerto!” 

Gajeel dodged and bashed a few of the rocks with his iron club as Juvia stood still as the rocks passed through her. She tried to come up with the next best attack. 

“Quite a difficult young mademoiselle, aren’t you?” 

Juvia quickly turned into water and launched herself beside Gajeel to get away from the wizard. 

“Oho! I read your memory, you wouldn’t want to hurt Gray-sama, would you?” 

Juvia’s eyes widened as she saw her beloved rise up from the ground he smiled as he held out a rose to her. Gajeel noted that he looked a bit...off and he knew Sol was to the exact detail when creating earth statues.

“Juvia, my love, marry me! Let’s have 33 babies!” ‘Gray-sama’ said. 

“How dare you try to impersonate Gray-sama!!” 

Juvia hit the fake Gray with water slicer and watched as he disintegrated back into the earth. 

“But I got everything right to the tee!” 

“Juvia knows her man, there’s no fooling her,” Gajeel said with a smirk.

“I see, I see, earth statue!” 

Gajeel sucked his teeth as another fake Gray appeared except he looked correct and he repeated the same phrase. 

“Look man, it’s not going to-”

“Oh yes! Yes, Gray-sama!” 

Gajeel watched dumbfounded as Juvia threw herself at the fake. 

“Juvia, no!” 

“You should watch after yourself first, Gajeel-sama.” 

Gajeel let out a shout as the wizard used Aria’s zetsu, his body got hit all over but he was quickly able to use his iron scales. He smirked as he looked at the wizard. 

“Sorry but nothing is getting through my armor, iron dragon roar!” 

Gajeel’s roar knocked the fake Gray’s head off and hit the wizard. 

“Gray-sama!” 

“Juvia, get your head straight. He’s not here!” 

“What about your head?” The wizard asked from behind Gajeel. 

Gajeel was about to run off when the wizard used Sol’s body stretch to keep him close. 

“Merci la vie!” 

“No!” 

Gajeel tried to get him off but he was already fading. He heard Juvia screaming at him and as he floated in the darkness, he wondered how pitiful he was. How had he been caught so easily?

“Gajeel!” 

Levy?

Gajeel caught a glimpse of blue hair as the person was thrown, he thought it was Levy. He promised to protect her, she could not let her get hurt!

His rage began to boil as he looked at the Levy on the tree. Yes, he had been the one to do that to her but she said she was over it. He was the only one still doting over it and he had made a promise to himself to protect her from afar. 

He had been too scared to get close to her because of what he did. 

Gajeel clenched his fist as he ran to the tree, his guildmates were all trying to accept him but he was being stubborn. No one stared or whispered about him anymore, no, they tried to invite him over but he ignored them. 

It was time to open himself up, not a lot but enough. 

“Gajeel, I hate you!” Levy screamed as he stood on the tree. 

“Hate me then, I made a promise to protect you so I’ll do it. Besides, you’re the smarts and I’m the strength. How can that work if I can’t even face my past?” 

Gajeel pried one clamp off and then the other, he gently held her and stared dead into her eyes. 

“You’re not the real Levy, none of this is real and I’m not scared of this anymore.” 

Gajeel slowly blinked as his eyes adjusted to the bright day, he had broken through the spell. 

“Ah!” 

Gajeel saw Juvia on the ground and clenched his teeth. 

“You bastard!” 

Gajeel hit him with an iron club, he felt like he had enough energy to last a week.

“How did you break out? Oh, this is just so sad!” 

“Shut up!” Gajeel shouted.

“Water lock!” 

Juvia panted as she leaned against one of her knees, crouched in pain. 

“I’m sorry Juvia, I can deal with him on my own. You just try not to run out of magic energy,” Gajeel said as he walked closer.

He smirked as he started to suck in air, “Iron-dragon roar!”

The wizard seemed to struggle and Juvia let out a little cry.

“Demon Logs!” 

Gajeel kept hitting him with attacks until he neared his end and he still seemed to be okay. 

“Juvia, release when I finish my spell!” Gajeel shouted and Juvia nodded as she struggled to even stay kneeling. 

“Dragon slayer’s secret art: Iron god sword!” 

Juvia released the water lock and the wizard let out a cry of pain since he was not able to move out of the way early enough. 

Gajeel and Juvia struggled to stay upright as they panted, both were drained of magic power. 

“Ugh,” The wizard whispered and started to get up. 

“No, he should have gone down with that last attack,” Juvia whispered in horror. 

“I don’t have anything left, I’m so tired too. I might be able to hold him off with hand-to-hand long enough for you to run,” Gajeel said. 

The wizard let out an ear-piercing screech as his body began to bubble and move in an inhuman way. It looked like a balloon with water moving through it. Another scream was heard followed by plopping sounds. The husk of a body fell back as two slick covered men sat up in confusion. 

“Non, non, non, where did my garden go? This isn’t my home,” Sol said as he sat up. 

“Oh, this is such a sorrowful day to wake up! A sorrowful place to be indeed,” Aria said as he looked about and the place. 

“Aria, Monsieur Sol, is that really you two?” Juvia asked breathlessly. 

“Mademoiselle Juvia, Gajeel-sama! What happened to you two?” Sol asked in surprise. 

“We should be asking you two that. How did you two end up being absorbed by that creep?” Gajeel asked as he pointed to the husk of a man who seemed to be in his late thirties. 

“Oh! I walked out to tend to my garden when I see this creature eating my plants and I went to shoo it but it turned out to be him! Then he shouted at me and next thing I know I wake up covered in slick and staring at you two!” 

Juvia nodded and looked at Aria who was letting out tears of sorrow for Sol’s sad story. Gajeel had definitely not missed that, if he was honest, he threw in one of two extra hits before his final move just for Aria. 

What could he say? He hated that he was always crying while he was trying to have a peaceful meal. 

“I was visiting a little village for their signature cloud bread when someone starts destroying the village. I tried to stop them when I realized they were speaking a lot like Sol and using his magic. I was caught off guard and then I woke up just now.”

“So neither of you remember destroying villages?” Juvia asked. 

“Non, non, non! After Phantom Lord disbanded, I quit being a wizard. I’m going for a more peaceful life,” Sol responded. 

“I’m just following the wind, for now, it brings a tear to my eye,” Aria said as he began to spring tears. 

“This is all interesting but what about the kid?” Gajeel asked. 

Everyone seemed surprised when a little girl around eight or nine shyly peeked out from behind Aria. She had the eyes with big red ‘x’s. Juvia and Gajeel seemed to be surprised, both had assumed that during the absorption Aria’s eyes had been mixed up or something. 

No one seemed to realize there had been a third person in the wizard. 

“H-hello! I’m Zina, um, I know everything that happened,” Zina quietly explained as all eyes fell on her. 

Aria had his eyes covered though. 

“Oh, yeah? Mind telling us?” Gajeel asked. 

“Well, this man is my...father. You see, ever since I was young he would tell me stories of how he used to be in a dark guild and how he ruled various villages through fear but when the guild fell apart, everyone stopped fearing him. The villages started to rebel and treated him like scum when he finally lost his power over them. Out of spite, he got with a girl from one of the villages and I came as a result.” 

Juvia covered her mouth as Zina blushed and looked at the ground before continuing. 

“Mom left me with dad out of shame and dad wanted revenge or to cause the villages to fear him and that was when he thought up of the plan to destroy the villages. I discouraged him but instead, he asked me to do it for him since my magic can alter memories however I want. If I wanted, I could have made all the villages live in fear of my father but I didn’t so my father…” Zina pressed her hands together. 

“My father decided to learn absorption magic and the next thing I knew he was trying to use my powers but it wasn’t working so he scavaged around until he found Sol and Aria. I’m so sorry about what my father did, but thank you so much for getting me out of there right before it was too late!” 

Zina bowed to them and wiped herself off the best she could, “I hope you take care. I’m going to go find my mother.” 

Zina turned and left the four in silence. 

“So you joined Fairy Tail? After all, that happened?” Aria asked. 

“Um, yeah. We ended up liking the guild, right Gajeel?” Juvia asked. 

Gajeel scoffed as he looked away, “Yeah, they’re idiots and kind of fun I guess,” Gajeel said as a blush slowly painted his cheeks, 

“Well, I think it’s time to say our farewells. Au revior!” Sol said as he began to walk away. 

“This is such a sad end! Goodbye!” Aria said as he walked away leaving Gajeel and Juvia to deal with the husk of the man. 

“Come on, let’s get him to the mayor and explain what happened,” Gajeel said as he slowly stood up.

Juvia was silent as she slowly got up too. Both of them knew it would have ended like that and not those two joining their guild. 

~~~

“Juvia thinks staying in one’s past can only leave to bad things. We can finally move on, right, Gajeel?” Juvia asked as they walked to the train station. 

“Tch,” Gajeel ruffled his hair as he looked away from her. 

A small smile landed on his lips. 

“I guess so.”


	7. Chapter 7

Gajeel watched from the upper floor as the guild erupted in festivities. He felt a nervous sweat break out as he noticed that the other two dragon slayers both had talking cats. He was a dragon slayer too! When would he get his own talking cat? Why was he the only one without a cat? 

He decided not to think too hard on it as he went down and joined the hyper guild. After mingling with the others for an acceptable amount of time without hitting one, he sat down to get some iron to eat. 

Gajeel chewed on some screws when he overheard Gray talking to Natsu about rumors of someone seeing a dragon. He grit his teeth as he looked away when Natsu shot up from his seat and called over his buddy. 

“You coming too?” Natsu asked once Wendy and her cat met up with him. 

“No way,” Gajeel closed his eyes, “It’s obviously a sham.”

Natsu tried to protest by saying maybe it was true this time but Gajeel shot him down.

“And how many times have you said that and gotten tricked? Stories about dragons are for luring people! You’re being used, try learning a little.”

“You want to see yours too, right? You want to see Metalicana!” Natsu protested yet again. 

“And then what? He just disappeared without saying anything. I don’t care one bit!” Gajeel bit out. 

Gajeel listened as the blondie and Levy whispered about him but he paid no mind to them. They had not been there when he was still hopeful and chased after every plausible lead only to get hurt. It did not take long for him to stop falling for such tricks. 

“Gajeel, didn’t you ever chase after those rumors like Natsu and Wendy?” Mirajane asked as she prepared another dish. 

“Back when I was an idiot kid, it didn’t take me that long to stop falling for those things though. The new girly and that flame-brained idiot have to grow out of it sooner or later,” Gajeel muttered as he got up. 

“Wendy’s still a kid though, I think it’s nice she still has hope, that goes for Natsu too!” Levy said as Lucy nodded. 

“I stopped believing when I was Wendy’s age, I hope for her sake she stops soon too. As for the idiot, tch,” Gajeel finished off as he headed down to the game room. 

“I swear, he’s the same age as Natsu but he acts like he’s older,” Lucy whispered under her breath and Gajeel turned around making her and Levy perk up nervously. 

Gajeel opened his mouth to speak when Erza came in and said she had something urgent to tell the master. He sighed as he sat down, something told him it would be a long one. 

Erza spoke of a being that attacked her that could use Requip magic - like hers - and that something about it did not seem human. The members were worried about it being another guild trying to start something which Gajeel shifted uncomfortably. 

Suddenly, Juvia started crying about Gray leaving her and he quickly stuck himself to the top of the guild and held his breath as her tears overflooded the guild. 

~~~

“I’ll return sometime later today, I heard the trains are having a bit of trouble,” The store owner apologized as Gajeel looked away.

“Take however long you need, as long as you pay. I’ll take care of yer shop,” Gajeel said as the shop owner smiled and turned away. 

“I’ll see you then,” The owner said and left the building leaving Gajeel to his job. 

Gajeel tried to not look but he was a weak man. He frowned slightly as he saw all the normal-looking cat’s in the pet shop. Gajeel scowled, it was not like he took the job just because he wanted to look for a cat but the pay was good too…

It was not like he needed a high paying job that was eventful or anything, he had plenty from the s-class job he had taken with Juvia. 

He needed to relax anyways…

Gajeel spent hours at the shop taking care of the animals when he suddenly heard a lot of commotion. Too many voices and other loud sounds were filling the shop and scaring the animals. Gajeel scowled as he looked out the window and suddenly he saw people being evacuated by guild members. 

He leaves for a simple job and already the guild got themselves in another problem? Gajeel sighed as he gave the cats treats to calm them, it was partially his fault for taking a job after Erza mentioned the possibility of them getting targetted by others. 

“Why are you still here? I thought you would have gone to fight off the dragon!” 

“Huh?” Gajeel turned to see the store owner was back and he clenched his fist. 

The thing causing the commotion was a “dragon?” He was going to be the judge of that, whatever that thing is, it better regret being born if it was not a dragon. Nothing would stain the dragon’s name, not while he was around. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going,” Gajeel muttered and told the owner to get his pay out and that he would be back. 

Gajeel walked until he heard familiar voices and decided to let his presence be known. 

“Man this is messed up, I warned him and everything, you know,” Gajeel muttered as he walked closer to his guildmates. “Now the guy who’s always hot under the collar has a body that’s hot all over!”

“Oh! Gajeel!”

“Man, the idiot,” Gajeel muttered before stepping into the fight. “Stop makin’ work for me! Secret Dragon Slayer Art! Karma Demon” Iron God Sword!” 

He drilled straight into the spot of the “dragon” that held Natsu. 

“Gajeel,” Natsu said in surprise. 

“Gihi, looks like I still got a ways to go. I was tryin’ to pulverize the entire thing and bust you up with it,” Gajeel sneered. 

“Oh, you-” Natsu began to challenge but Gajeel rather not brawl with him at the moment. 

“Lucy! Call that horse guy! Send all the fire ya got on an arrow in here!” He demanded. 

The others listened and began to gather up their fire, Gajeel spoke to Natsu. 

“That stupid woman insulted the pride and majesty of dragons. Don’t hold back. Crush her good.” 

Gajeel quickly got out of the way as the fire arrow nearly hit, he watched from a distance as Natsu began to tear up the fake dragon. He smirked when he saw it burning up, of course, that pyro would not only power it but destroy it too. 

Natsu held the woman’s body before tossing it and he began to pick a fight with Gray. Next thing he knew, he was getting dragged into the fight because he “was hiding from the fight.”

He did like himself a good brawl.

~~~

“This is messed up,” Gajeel muttered between chewing his iron. “I don’t get these people. Everyone acting like their heads are in the clouds. It’s just the cherry blossom season, sheesh.” 

“The people making requests realize it,” The guy that never works said. 

“Huh?”

“There aren’t many requests since everyone knows that Fairy Tail’s too busy partying to do much work,” The guy responded. 

“Give me a…” Gajeel realized he might get the others to accept him more if he took part in their silly celebrations. “Hey, how about you go on a job, huh?” 

Gajeel then felt the gloomy presence of his friend, “Hm? What’s wrong, Juvia?”

“Ah, Gray-sama...Gray-sama went off on a job! Juvia can’t believe how lonely the guild is without Gray-sama here!” 

“He can’t help it, okay? He’s a Fairy Tail wizard!” The guy who never worked said. 

Gajeel quickly pointed out the irony in that. Juvia continued to cry about it until she flooded the guild with her tears. He had been too late so he found himself wringing his clothes out once Juvia got rid of the water but left them all drenched. 

“Gajeel are you going to stay for the viewing tomorrow?” Elfman asked. 

“I guess so, I hear the bingo prizes are cool,” Gajeel responded. 

“Why don’t you sit with me and Nab? An area for real men!” 

“Who’s Nab?” Gajeel asked and saw the guy he had been talking to earlier deflate. 

“Come on, Gajeel, we were just talking!” Nab shouted and Gajeel snickered as he looked away. 

“Sure, I ain’t got anything else to do,” Gajeel responded. 

He stuck around for some idle chatter but that day ended and the day of the cherry blossom viewing arrived. 

Gajeel did not see the appeal in seeing cherry blossoms bloom, when he was younger Metalicana teased him about it. He laughed at himself when he recalled how defensive and stubborn he had been when Metalicana asked if he was a kid and still wanted to see the flowers. 

Looking back on it, Gajeel thought about how it would have been if he agreed and went with him to see the flowers. He doubted he would have turned out different but who knows. 

“Bingo!” Levy, Elfman, and Juvia shouted. 

Gajeel came out from his reminiscing and watched as all three wizards looked confused. He wondered how they were going to resolve it but when he heard they would compete and the winner would get the prize, he was already dressed and on stage.

“I’ll outperform all of ya,” Gajeel said as he strum his guitar and started to play. 

He laughed when he got kicked off, yeah, he wondered if he could have had a fun time with Metalicana that day. 

Maybe not, that dragon sure was a bitter guy.

~~~

“Nobody who says “victory is mine” ever actually wins,” Gajeel muttered.

He had been told he would have to take part in a race and he was looking forward to beating everyone. Gajeel listened as Natsu bragged about a secret weapon, he decided that Natsu and Gray would be the first he would have to beat. 

They were getting too arrogant those days. 

Gajeel stretched as the master explained the rules of the race. When the part of the punishment came up, he heard Macao and Alzack worrying about it. 

“It’s only one person though. As long as you don’t come in last, what’s the problem?” Gajeel asked. 

“That is quite a logical way of thinking. But it is far too negative!” Erza scolded as she stepped into the conversation. 

“Oh yeah?” Gajeel challenged. 

Erza then requiped into an outfit that she said would help her win. He realized she wanted to win, if she did then he would try his best to win too. 

However, before he could brace himself, he found himself on the ground from Jet’s magic. He scowled as he got up and began to run, he found him and Droy to be really weak but Jet’s magic gave him the upper hand in the race. 

He watched as some people overtook him since he was pacing himself. He was going to let them slowly fall behind when he saw Reedus drawing pitfalls to make others fall.

“Gihi.”

Gajeel pushed Reedus into his freshly made pitfalls and shouted back at him, “That’s what you get for layin’ back and paintin’!”

Gajeel smirked as he kept running, at his rate he was still way ahead of the others. All his training was paying off, even if there were to be a sudden rainstorm he was positive he could keep running and not slip.

He thought about the time he was a child and Metelicana had made him run up slippery slopes while dragging rocks to toughen him up. At first, he struggled and yelled at him for being too mean but after a few smacks, Gajeel stopped complaining. 

He learned how to make foot blades to keep him from slipping. 

The next few hours went by and he was getting tired of the never-ending running. That was when he spotted Natsu as he ran out of firepower. 

“Outta my way!” Gajeel shouted as he hit Natsu with an iron club. 

He had been right behind that idiot for a while and he had been itching to hit him but Natsu would ultimately start a fight and he would lose energy. Speaking of which, he was feeling pretty hungry and his water ran out an hour ago.

Gajeel grabbed one of the scales before turning back and running. Once he was back in the forest, he grabbed a few fruits from trees and ate them quickly before starting to run again so he would not lose his rhythm.

He noticed he was behind Erza but he was about the same as the stripper and the blonde. 

Speaking of which, where was Levy?”

Gajeel could have sworn the blond left with Levy so how did the blond get ahead? 

Gajeel quickly cleared his head and kept focused on running when he realized he had been racing the others for first place since Jet was pulling up behind them. 

He was about to pull ahead from the others when the idiot tripped and send them all to the ground. His muscles were sore from the long run and he lost to the blue cat. 

He stood up and stared in shock before Wendy and the other cat passed. He then got trampled by the rest of the guild and was about to get the last place when Jet started to make a run for it. He grabbed onto him and got pulled over the finish line, unfortunately, Gray and Natsu had the same idea which resulted in them tying for the last place. 

The worst part was that the punishment was a spread for sorcerer weekly. 

It was a big no from Gajeel and he did not hesitate to run away with the others. 

For the next week, the four hid out in the forest as they one by one got dragged back for the punishment. Gajeel sacrificed Jet first then Juvia got Gray. 

When it was just him and Natsu, he ended up turning himself in because he could not, would not, put up with his insistent talking about their dragons and how Gajeel needed to change his face because he was too scary. 

“You just have a week before the spreads come out, how are you feeling?” The annoying reporter asked as Gajeel crossed his arms and grumbled.

“I hate this whole thing,” Gajeel muttered. 

“Hm, do you hope to get any fans from the glamour shots?”

Gajeel blushed and clenched his fist, they had forced him into all of those clothes and then nitpicked when he refused to smile. 

“No,” Gajeel responded bitterly. 

“So cool! Is there an outfit you really liked?”

“No,” Gajeel responded coldly. 

He hoped that if he gave the same answer for everything that he would give up and take him out of the spread. 

“We’ll do better next time! Is there an outfit you wished you wore instead?”

“No.”

“Cool! Say, is there some girl you would like to impress with the photos?” 

“No,” Gajeel responded once again. 

“Cool! Is-”

“No.”

“I haven’t even asked-”

“Put down no for everything,” Gajeel muttered as he stood up and exited the room. 

He quickly made a run for it before anyone could try and stop him. He kept running until he accidentally ran into someone. 

“Sorry, oh, it’s you,” Gajeel said as he looked down at Levy.

“Ah, Gajeel! Watch where you’re going, I almost dropped Erza’s cake!”

Gajeel looked down to see her carrying a cake carrier. 

“Why are you carryin’ around her cake?” Gajeel asked.

“She likes to eat cake when I give her a new book to read so I tend to get her a cake when I gift her a new book. Oh! Do you want a book? I need more space in my room but I don’t want to get rid of my books forever in case I ever need or want to read it again!” 

“Er, I don’t really read,” Gajeel said and watched as her shoulders drooped slightly. “I never saw Erza as the readin’ type, what type of books does she read?” Gajeel asked. 

He saw Levy’s face heat up and he arched an eyebrow in confusion. Why was she getting embarrassed over a book?

“I have to go before the icing melts!” Levy shouted before running away.

Gajeel stared after her in confusion. 

~~~

“Hey, Levy,” Erza started and watched as the short mage quickly covered whatever she was reading with her pillow. 

“Erza! What a surprise? Want a new book?” Levy asked with a flushed face. 

“Oh, did you get a new book? Whatever you’re reading seems to be right up my alley so I’ll wait until you finish it. Whatever it is, I would like to read it once you’re done,” Erza said as she pointed to the pillow. 

Levy laughed nervously as Erza walked out and closed the door. Once the door was closed for sure, Levy let out a heavy sigh and removed the pillow to show the scowling picture of Gajeel in swimming shorts. 

His piercing red eyes were so prominent and the questions on that page were part of the reason she was blushing so much. 

On the page, it read, “What was your most memorable moment at the beach?”

Gajeel had responded with “no.”

The second-hand embarrassment was too much for her to handle. Levy let out a small cry as she flopped about on her bed throwing a small tantrum, Erza had assumed she was reading something dirty and was expecting to get the book.

There was no way she was giving the magazine to Erza, she would probably scold her. 

Levy sighed as she looked over at her bookshelves, there was bound to be something she could give to Erza that would live up to her expectations. She looked over the shelves that had that type of genre before flopping back down. 

She would get to that when Erza brought it up again.


	8. Chapter 8

Since the beginning, Gajeel knew he would be outcasted from the guild but he had decided to work on things. Slowly he began to talk more to the others without insulting them too much. Then Wendy joined and people started to point out that he was the only dragon slayer without a cat partner.

Or rather, he noticed it right away and the others slowly noticed it. They teased him about it but he felt like he was an outcast from the other two dragon slayers. 

He had been looking for a cat but all of them were regular old cats and none of them was the one. The biggest blow to his self-esteem was when he saw the new Gajeel figures. AHis old ones sold out - and there was a little stand for if he got a cat. 

Gajeel grumbled in the alleyway as he looked at the cats in the alley, all of them looked normal. Right, when he fell to the ground in despair, a bright light filled the alley and he saw the outline of the cat. 

It could not be...was it the one?

A few seconds later, Gajeel was grumbling as he rubbed his cheek. The damn cat decided to treat his face like a scratching pole, luckily his skin was tougher than normal skin so the scratches did not draw blood but the scratches were still noticeable. He had a healing cream back home so he might as well use it. 

On his way home, he heard the two cats talking and he watched as the blue one got chewed out. When he was noticed, the cat asked why his face was scratched up so he told him to shut up.

Gajeel hid his face until he got to his apartment and dug around for the cream. As he applied the cream to the scratches, he heard the rain pounding outside. 

It sounded perfect to sleep through. 

Once he finished putting the cream on, he threw himself onto his bed, he was going to wash the sheets the next day so he did not bother changing.

While Gajeel slept, the storm got worse and worse as the sky started to open more. It did not take long for the anima to take up the entire guild and its surroundings. 

The white sand piled on top of Gajeel as he slept and it did not take long before Gajeel awoke at the sudden change. 

Gajeel let out a groan as he slowly opened his eyes. He blinked several times before sitting up, white sand seemed to pour off of him like a waterfall. 

“What the?” Gajeel muttered as he looked around for the city. 

The last thing he remembered was taking a nap and now he was waking up in the middle of nowhere. He swore he was in his bed just a few seconds ago, why was he in white sand while bubbles floated?

“Where the hell am I?” Gajeel asked aloud as he stood up and brushed the sand off of him. 

“You’re in what remains of Magnolia.” 

Gajeel turned to see Mystogan, he pulled out a little jar that had little red balls in it. 

“What the hell happened?”

“I don’t have time to explain, the entrance to Edolas is about to close. You need to take one of these, they’re called exballs and they’re medicine that lets you be able to use your magic in Edolas. They’ve taken our guild and turned them into a magic lacrima since they’re running out of magic, your dragon slayer magic will be able to turn them back to normal. When they turn into their regular forms, give them an exball. I’ve already sent Lucy and I think the other two dragon slayers are there too so keep an eye out.” 

Before Gajeel could inquire any more, he was getting shot up into the sky, “What the hell is Edolas?!” 

Gajeel let out a grunt as he landed in a desert-like area. 

Where the hell was he supposed to go?

Gajeel grumbled as he stood up and looked around, something was wrong. There seemed to be something wrong with the air but he could not point it out. Also, the guild had been turned into a magic lacrima?

He swore under his breath, maybe if he had gone to the guild, he could have prevented the others from their fate. His mind fluttered to Levy, last he had seen her she was a glowing ball of excitement as she hugged a book to her chest. Then there was Juvia, that idiot probably would have tried to save the stripper.

His fist clenched as he began to walk, the others were also having a pretty laid back day. None of them deserved what happened and he was going to save them. 

Gajeel walked a while before he ran into a guy - more like the other guy ran at him trying to mug him but he flipped him over and got directions to the nearest city. He took his cloak for good measure. 

As he walked, Gajeel wondered how Wendy was faring in this world. He just knew she was here and she was with Natsu. 

However, Mystogan made it obvious that without the medicine he had, none of them could use magic. Since he assumed Natsu and Wendy were there, that meant they could not use their magic. 

Natsu may be considerably weaker without his magic but he would be able to take on people in a fistfight but Wendy? He shuddered to think about what the girl must be going through having to rely on Natsu. That idiot would probably put them in more danger and try to use his magic leading to them getting hurt. 

Gajeel spotted the city from afar and it looked pretty round. He kept going until he got on a ledge that overlooked the city and all the buildings were round and looked like some bug habitat. 

“Crap,” Gajeel muttered, “I’ve been thrown to one whacked out place. Sheesh...this is messed up.”

Gajeel carefully made his way down, he rather not use up his magic energy. All he had to do was find a big lacrima and hit it with his magic to free his friends. He scowled as he stood at the entrance of the city, that Mystogan guy never told him how they would leave. 

Even if the people of this place were running out of magic, he doubted they would have an easy time fighting all of the. Gajeel brushed those thoughts off, first, he had to find the lacrima. 

As he walked through the buildings, he found himself about to enter an area where people were walking.

“So then, where should I start? Guess I should get it over with and ask,” Gajeel muttered out. 

He let his hood slip off his head as he walked up to a guy, “Yo, I’d like to ask you something”

The guy gave him the side-eye before walking walked away, “Oi, wait!”

Gajeel scowled and turned to talk to the others in front but they looked at him and walked away. He became irritated at them.

“This Edolas place don’t got a lot of friendly people, do it?” 

Suddenly Gajeel grew aware of watching eyes and turned to see three gangster looking men snickering as they looked at him. He liked where things were going. 

“Gihi, looks like there’s always some kiddies rarin’ to play with me though, no matter where I go,” Gajeel spoke to himself as he walked up to the, 

“You got a problem with us, bud?”

“You damn fly!”

Gajeels fingers itched to hit as his eyes narrowed, “Damn fly? Me?” 

“Ain’t nobody else here but you!”

“If you don’t like “fly”, about about “maggot”?” 

All three men started laughing as though the short guy said something funny. 

“I’m not laughing,” Gajeel muttered before headbutting the guy in the middle. 

“Y-you bastard!” The other two lackeys shouted as they squared up. 

Gajeel watched as they balled up their fists and both hit him square in the face, it felt like they had patted him if anything. 

“Gihi,” Gajeel laughed before punching both once each and they went to the ground. 

The one that got down first stood up and Gajeel quickly grasped his shirt and brought him closer, “A huge lacrima showed up recently. Where is it? Spit it out!”

“I-I don’t know!”

“Is that so? I’ll just give you a second helping,” Gajeel said as he pulled back and was about to bash him again. 

“Wait! We really don’t know! Right? Right?” The guy said as he looked at his lackeys who sided with him. 

“Tch. Fine, then,” Gajeel muttered as he let go of the guy and took a few steps back. “I’ll ask someone else. Get lost, you guys,” Gajeel said as he shooed them with his hand.

“Wait, Gajeel, since when have you been so strong?” The guy he had just threatened asked.

“Huh?” Gajeel asked. 

“Yeah! I mean, until just recently, you’d never get in a fight,” The short one said. 

Gajeel thought, could it be another me that’s here in Edolas? 

“Yo, tell me what’s the Gajeel here do?”

“Huh?”

“I just happen to look like him,” Gajeel responded dismissively. 

“You’re kidding, right? You look identical!”

“Whatever, just answer me. What does Gajeel usually do?” Gajeel asked, perhaps the other him could help him.

“He’s a freelance writer here in Edolas with a terrible reputation,” The guy responded. 

“Writer?” Gajeel mused. 

“All he does is write articles in magazines and newspapers criticizing the kingdom.”

“That’s why he’s hated by all the people in town,” The short guy explained. 

“So that’s why no one would talk with me. A freelance writer, huh? I kinda want to meet this guy, gihi,” Gajeel laughed. 

“Say, before I go, where do you think I could run into Gajeel or learn more about what I want to know,” Gajeel asked the three.

“Gajeel is probably in a bar in the capital listening in on conversations, your best bet for both is the bar.”

“Where is the capital and what bar?”

Gajeel got pointed into the direction and he was given the name of the bar. He spent a while looking for a ride until someone politely gave him their ride after he knocked them out. It took a while but he sped, he could see the capital in the distance before the ride he used ran out of fuel. 

“I can walk,” Gajeel muttered since it was dark out and he doubted anyone would be passing by. 

He arrived at the outskirts of the town but since he was tired he decided to sleep, after all, he had done quite a bit for just one day.

He found himself camped out on the hard rocks outside the city, he found himself a small cave. He huffed as he laid down and looked up at the rock, it had been a while since he had been forced to sleep in a cave because he had no money. 

He thought about when he first was on his own - when Metalicana had first left him. Gajeel had been twelve years old when he woke up in a cave similar to the one he was in. He grumbled as he walked out, he expected the dragon to be still asleep since he had not barked at him to get up. 

Gajeel smirked, it was going to be his turn to raise hell on the dragon to wake him up!

His eyes narrowed as he stepped out into the bright day, he had overslept even thought it was such a pretty day. The air seemed fresh, the plants seemed to be rejuvenated by the sunlight, and he felt as though there was more magic energy. 

“Tch, he should have let me sleep in more if it feels this good,” Gajeel said as he raked a hand through his hair. 

Gajeel then turned to pick a fight with his father, that was when he noticed the clearing. 

“Oi! Where are you!? You better not be eating without me you selfish rust bucket!” Gajeel shouted at the top of his lungs. 

He headed out to the spot where Metalicana usually laid but he caught no whiff of his scent. He was confused as he walked around more, trying to get a hint of the dragon’s scent but to no avail. A little voice whispered in the back of his head that Metalicana had left him. 

Gajeel ran to one of the areas that Metalicana liked to hunt but it was empty as well. 

After hours of yelling and screaming and making false promises, he collapsed in the spot where Metalicana used to lay. 

He stared up at the sky with a burning throat and tears pricking at the sides of his eyes. 

Not even a dragon wanted him. 

He shook his head as he turned to his side, he could almost see Metalicana staring up at the sky and telling him that maybe one day he would fly away - he usually said that when he was throwing a fit over not wanting to practice magic anymore because he was too good. 

“Dad, where did you go?” 

~~

Gajeel woke up with a start, he held a hand over his eyes. He wondered when he fell asleep. 

After a few seconds of thinking, he left the cave to go freshen up, and then he would go to the bar. 

He realized rather quickly that he had slept in and that he might have missed the other him. He hoped he did not. 

He removed the hood to his cloak as he walked into the bar, it smelled like these people were already trying to forget. 

As he walked, he heard some guys talking about what he wanted to know, the magic lacrima the guild was in. He noticed an empty seat and sat down since it was near the guys. 

When the conversation seemed to be coming to an end about what he wanted to know, he got up.

“About that…”

“About that…”

“Would you tell me more?”

“Could you tell me more?”

“Oh?” Gajeel said as did the other voice. 

He turned his head and looked at the other person in shock. It was the other him!

“You are-”

“Yer-”

“Me,” They finished in unison. 

“You two look exactly alike,” One of the guys talking pointed out.

Gajeel had expected the other him to look like him but seeing it was rather weird. Aside from the hair, glasses, and piercings, it was like staring into a mirror!

“I’ve been lookin’ for you,” Gajeel said to the other him. 

“I would like to understand what is going on, would you mind if I asked you some questions?” The other him asked.

“Buy us a drink, yer gonna need it,” Gajeel said and the other him nodded. 

Soon enough, he was sitting down with a drink in his hand as the other him stood next to him with his notepad out. 

“First question, who are you?” The other Gajeel asked. 

“I’m the other world’s you, I’m Gajeel Redfox, a wizard of Fairy Tail.” 

“Ah! I heard about the other world, it’s supposedly filled with magic energy and people had internalized magic power. The Fairy Tail in this world is a dark guild, does that mean you are also in a dark guild as well?”

“No, Fairy Tail in my world is a normal wizard guild. Honestly, I didn’t even know there was another world. I just woke up in a bunch of sand and found out the guild and city were vaporized or somethin’ by this world. Then this guy from my guild, Mystogan, told me to save our guild because they became a magic lacrima and here I am tryin’ to save ‘em,” Gajeel said and finished off with a quick drink. 

“So in other words, you were sent here to this world by a certain Mystogan?”

“He gave me a brief explanation. But I don’t really understand things over here.”

“This is a most interesting tale.”

“Tell me something, me who’s from this world…” Gajeel said. 

“What is it, myself from that other world?”

“You’re a freelance writer here in Edolas, right?” 

“Yes, my job is to investigate thoroughly what happens in this world and write about it.”

“You seem to have a lot of enemies out there. I was attacked by some strange guys who mistook me for you.”

“I do very much apologize for causing you such trouble,” The other him said as he took a drink. “There are indeed those who consider me quite the eyesore since I write about things which are not in the Kingdom or government’s favor. However, I do not write articles which are false.”

“I heard there was a lot different between this and my original world,” Gajeel said.

Both men looked at one another before smirking and standing up.

“But we are not that different after all, are we?” They asked in unison. 

“Come now, let us leave this place,” The other Gajeel said as Gajeel slung his arm around his neck. 

“Yer polite and cultured, just like me!” Gajeel said. 

“And I think your wild and cool charms are precisely like my own! You should know that I am very talented at singing and musical instruments.” 

“Oh! That’s another thing we have in common!” Gajeel exclaimed. 

They both laughed as they bumped forearms. 

“We should play a song together!” The other said and Gajeel laughed as he crossed his arms. 

“I would love to, really but I need to focus on saving my guild,” Gajeel said as he peered around a corner. “A number of my buddies should be through here. I’m sure they’ll cause a big commotion before long and then-”

“Sure, I’ll let you know right away. My information network has its fingers even inside the Kingdom and the Exceeds”

“I’m counting on you. We’ll make our move based on that.”

“Be careful, The other said as he looked at Gajeel. 

Gajeel looked back at him, “Same to you.” 

He walked away and slung his hands in his pockets. He stayed near where the guards were but out of sight since it seemed suspicious there were so many guards. Before long, people showed up and it seemed like there was a parade.

He clenched his fist when he saw the guards standing around a large lacrima. 

It was them 

The people were cheering as an old guy with a staff walked out and raised his hands. He saw how happy the people were and how some cried, he heard some praising the king. 

“Tch,” He could beat that man if he needed to. 

He listened as he went on an insane rant and hit the lacrima. A bit fell off and he glared at the kind, he had just gotten rid of Nab’s magic power. 

“Hmph. How stupid. You can manipulate that many people with such a flimsy speech?” Gajeel turned around and walked away from the place. “What will I do now?”

It was clear that the lacrima would not be unguarded and if he attacked the kind straight off the bat, that could end badly for the others. Even if he was strong enough to take them all on without much of a problem, how the hell would he get them back home?

He doubted they would tell him. 

Gajeel went to the top of a building to scope out the situation a bit more, it looked a bit small from above. He expected the lacrima to be much bigger especially since the Master and Erza were in there. 

~~~

“I figured you would be here. Would you like to stay in a hotel, I shall pay of course,” The other Gajeel said as he leaned against the railing. 

“I guess, these damn guards haven’t moved much,” Gajeel said as he turned to look at himself and hoped over the railing. 

“What would you like to eat?” 

“You got any iron?” Gajeel asked. 

“Say, I never asked what type of magic you use. I assume iron has something to do with it? Something like turning using iron in lacrimas to turn different weapons?”

“Eh? I’m an iron dragon slayer, I can turn my body into iron and use it to attack. I can turn my skin into iron and use it as a defense as well.”

He heard the other him gasp and praise that it was cool, he smirked as they walked. 

“I’ll show you some if you want.”

They found a hotel and once Gajeel had properly washed up and the other him washed up too, they sat down to eat. 

“You can eat iron?” The other asked as Gajeel picked up a block of iron. 

“Yeah, nothing too special,” Gajeel said as he bit off a chunk of the iron off the edge. 

Then Gajeel demonstrated turning his hand into a club and turning his skin into iron scales. 

“I cannot believe Earthland has this type of magic! This is so much superior compared to our magic here. We use objects with magic lacrimas implanted inside of them,” The other said as he showed off his magic tools. 

“Say, what else do you know about the rest of Fairy Tail aside from it being a dark guild here,” Gajeel asked. 

“I do not know much aside from a few of the members. I usually talk to Lucy Ashley for information, that is whenever she’s not bullying Natsu Doragion or picking a fight with Levy-”

“Levy! Have you met Levy?” Gajeel asked suddenly. 

If this Gajeel did not have magic as he did and he was not a part of Fairy Tail, there was no way his meeting with Levy was like his. There was no way that this Gajeel hurt her. 

“No, I have not but I know quite a bit about her. I tend to wait outside of the guild for Lucy, but I hear that she’s rather vulgar and aggressive. She’s rather good with mechanics and she’s in charge of the teleportation device the guild uses to avoid the king’s knights. Also, she’s the leader of the strongest team in Fairy Tail, team shadow gear.”

Gajeel let out a sigh as he listened, she sounded so out of character compared to his Levy. 

“Why is it that you are interested in Levy? Is she perhaps your-”

“When I met her, I did something that I’ve regretted since I joined. I just, I know how hard it is to move on from that, I still get nightmares about it and I wanted to know that somewhere out there, there was a version of me who didn’t hurt her.”

“You hurt Levy?” The other Gajeel asked and watched as Gajeel scowled and looked away. 

“I don’t care but if you ever meet her, you better be nice to her. Protect her in anyway you can. Trust me, you don’t want to see her hurt ever,” Gajeel muttered as he thought about her crying as he walked away. 

“I can tell you deeply regret whatever it is you did to her. Could you tell-”

“No.”

A heavy silence fell over them before Gajeel let out a sigh and looked at the other him who looked confused. 

“We should probably talk over a plan about what we’re gonna do to save my guild. I can take the out of the lacrima but I need there to be an opening and have the guards be away before I make my move,” Gajeel said. 

“I shall do my best. I will let you know with my magic where to send the guards after figuring out where the least amount of guards are stationed.”

“Our minds really do think alike,” Gajeel said as he laughed. 

“We should probably get some sleep, you can choose whichever bed you want.” 

Gajeel stood up and before pausing and looking down at the other Gajeel.

“Say, you said you were a journalist, any chance you got an article you wrote on hand?” 

“No, not on me. Why?”

Gajeel clicked his tongue as he turned away and walked to the nearest bed. 

“Don’t worry about it.”


	9. Chapter 9

“Gajeel, are you asleep yet?”

Gajeel’s eyes snapped open and he turned to see the Edolas version of himself staring up at the window. Truth be told, Gajeel had been having a hard time falling asleep ever since he mentioned Levy. He knew if he went to sleep, that nightmare would come back. 

Even though he was ready to move on, the guilt would remain there like an oil stain on a shirt, right over his heart. 

“No, is there somethin’ that came to ya?” Gajeel asked. 

“I just...what is our mother like back on Earth Land? She passed away a few years ago, are there any fun stories you can tell me about her?”

Gajeel turned to look at the ceiling as well as he felt the other look at him. 

“I never met her. I was raised by Metalicana, the iron dragon, he was the one who raised me and taught me how to use dragon slayer magic as well as readin’ and writing. He was selfish but he’s my father.”

The other Gajeel fell silent as both thought about their parent. 

“This Levy girl, what’s she like on Earth Land?” Gajeel asked. 

Gajeel let out a huff as he closed his eyes, he could see her sitting at a bench with a book spread out with her reading glasses on. 

The chances that the book was not in their language was high.

“She’s short and rather petite. She likes to hunch over books when she reads and I’ve caught her curled up on the ground reading while the guild starts a typical brawl. She’s a real big bookworm and she knows so many languages, she tried to explain to me something as she rewrote a ruin but I didn’t understand a single word she said but I knew she could do it somehow. Oh, she has short blue hair that she ties back when she gets serious about reading or decoding somethin’ and when she does there’s always some hair that doesn’t go back and kinda just stays there and sways as she moves,” Gajeel said as he thought back to the battle of Fairy Tail. 

“I think it’s fitting she is in the Fairy Tail guild then, she sounds like a fairy.”

Gajeel chuckled as he thought of her wearing a fairy costume, she was small enough to pass off as a fairy.   
“She has the personality of a fairy, she forgave me when I didn’t deserve it. However, since she’s so small and her two teammates are lacking, I decided to watch over her to make sure she doesn’t get hurt again. That’s why one of the reasons it’s so important to save the guild, I know that once we save them, Levy will figure something out. She’ll probably read out the entire city in a day and be able to take us all back.”

“I will make sure that tomorrow I give you a chance to free your friends and get a big scoop at the same time.”

“Yeah, let’s go to sleep.”

Gajeel closed his eyes ready to fall asleep when the other him spoke again.

“Just out of curiosity, do you like this girl? She sounds amazing.”

Gajeel laughed as he shifted slightly, “Yeah, she is.”

“So do you like her?”

The room was filled with silence until Gajeel let out a soft snore, he had fallen asleep. The other Gajeel was in shock that he fell asleep so easily. 

The other Gajeel looked at him, he wondered what the Earthland version of him did to that girl. 

~~~

“Do you like her?”

Gajeel stared at the roof of his apartment. 

“Well, do you?” 

Gajeel turned to see Juvia sitting at the table with a teacup between her fingers. 

“Aren’t you in a lacrima?” Gajeel asked as he sat up. 

“Why do you keep avoiding the question? It’s not like it’s the first time you’ve thought about it,” Juvia said calmly as she turned part of her body into water and scooped it out with the cup. 

“I don’t know what yer talkin’ about,” Gajeel grumbled. 

He knew perfectly well what she was talking about.

“But you do.”

Gajeel turned to see the Master sitting on top of his dresser. 

“What are you doing here, old man?” 

“Why do you keep avoiding the question?” 

Gajeel turned to see himself leaning through the mirror, or rather, his Edolas self. 

“I’m not I just-”

Gajeel groaned as he woke up to the other him shaking him awake. 

“We need to get ready, the earlier we get there the earlier you get to save your friends.”

Gajeel ruffled his hair, what had he been dreaming about? He felt like it was semi-important. 

Oh well. 

“Yeah, I’ll be done quickly.”

~~~

Gajeel stood on a building peering over the lacrima, he was waiting to spot anything out of the ordinary. The other him was already down there doing what he could as a journalist. 

He smirked, of course, any version of himself would be able to do any job properly. Then he looked down and saw how the people were celebrating. It really ground his gears. 

“Damn...If I barge in from the front, the onlookers will get wrapped up in it. What’ll I do?”

That was the last thing he wanted to do, he would have no problem if they were all guards but civilians had nothing to do with it.

“Eh?”

Gajeel noticed the other version of himself walking out into the crowd. He made eye contact even as the hat blocked part of his face, it was clear he was looking up at him. He was going to try to ask the solders some more questions. 

The longer he waited, the clearer the sound of the drums sounded. Soon the drummers leading in more government workers arrived in by marching. 

Then he saw the other him pointing to another side of the lacrima. 

It was time to make a move. 

“I get it, gihi,” Gajeel laughed.

Gajeel carefully jumped down and tried to avoid suspicion as much as he could. He mixed into the crowd and walked to the area the other him pointed. He was slightly nervous that his magic would not work in getting them back 

He could not think about that though. 

Also, he could not act recklessly unless he wanted to endanger everyone not just his guildmates. 

He watched as the lacrima started to glow, they were getting ready to do their ritual. If the other him did not hurry, things would have to get messy.

‘I have to hurry, but there are too many people for me to make my move,’ Gajeel thought.

Suddenly, there was a loud sound that reminded him of fireworks. He looked up and saw the letter ‘N’ and a few more letters.

“North?”

He knew 

“Look! There was something written there! North of the plaza! Some suspicious fellow is after the lacrima!”

He listened to the guards fall right into his trap, now that the people were leaving he could make his move. 

“Okay! Now I can really cut loose! Gigi!” Gajeel smirked as he threw his cloak away.

The guard shouted at him to back away but he was already moving. 

“That Mystogan guy seems fishy to me but I’ll trust him for now!” He shouted as he launched forward. 

“Club of the Iron dragon!”

“Sword of the Iron dragon!”

He hit the lacrima. 

“There’s more where that came from!” 

He hit the lacrima once again and a bright light erupted from the shattering lacrima. He smirked as he watched could see the outline of the others.

Or rather, two outlines. 

His eyes widened in shock, “What?!”

The light started to fade and he stared at Erza and Gray. They were the only two in there?!

“What the...only two?”

Where the hell were the others?

“Hey, wake up! Pay attention!” Gajeel shouted. 

Gray and Erza slowly stood up before opening their eyes.

“Ah, you’re finally awake,” Gajeel said to them, he was aware they had hardly any time.

“Gajeel?” Erza asked. 

“What happened?” Gray asked as he looked around.

“I’ll explain later,” Gajeel said. “We’re gettin’ it outta here!” 

The guards shouted at them as they charged, Gajeel slipped out a chunk of Iron the other him had been so kind to give him some extra after dinner. 

“I can’t use magic!” Gray shouted.

“What?” Erza asked in shock. 

“I said I’ll explain later,” Gajeel muttered around the iron. “Roar of the Iron Dragon!”

The guards shouted as they all flew back. Gajeel wiped the back of his mouth, “Follow me or you two can deal with them without yer magic.”

Gajeel booked it out of there with Erza and Gray hot on his heels. He ran to the meeting area he had agreed upon with the other version of himself. They had chosen a rather big space since they were expecting more people. 

“We’re far enough,” Gajeel muttered as he barely heard the panic screams of the people. 

“Spill it. Why is it that you can use magic?” Gray suddenly asked. 

“First, take one of these,” Gajeel said as he took out the medicinal balls. 

It would be better for them if they both had their magic back in case they were ambushed. 

“What?” Gray asked. 

“What happened?” Erza asked. “Tell us the details!”

“The two of you were turned into a lacrima,” The other Gajeel said. 

Gajeel turned to look at him as did Erza and Gray. 

“Oh, you’re here!” Gajeel exclaimed.

“Gihi, as expected from my Earthland self,” The other him flicked his hat and revealed his face. “You rescued them splendidly!” 

“There are Gajeels?!” Gray and Erza exclaimed in shock. 

Just as both Gajeels had anticipated. 

Gajeel smirked as he walked to the other him and clamped his shoulder. 

“I am the Gajeel from this world.”

“He’s a pretty useful guy,” Gajeel said. He smiled as he held the back of his head, “Look at his face! That’s a face that says ‘I get things done!’ Gihihi!”

“That aside, what do you mean we were turned into lacrima?” Erza asked. 

“That aside...?” Gajeel asked. 

“It means she doesn’t give a crap about your face,” Gray said.

Gajeel felt his face fall slightly, he expected some reaction. He bet if it were any other two guild members they would be surprised. 

“Whatever, let’s get to business,” Gajeel muttered as he removed his hand from the other him’s shoulder. 

“I shall explain. All the wizards of Fairy Tail have been turned into lacrima. They were after your magic power. I thought the lacrima in the open square was it but…”

“Even though it was so big, it was only you two.” Gajeel finished. “How hella big is the real one?” Gajeel questioned aloud. 

“There was a cut face on that lacrima, yes...now that I think about it, that means it was a section that was cut off,” Gajeel finished. 

“There’s still so much I want to ask but what were those strange pills?” Gray asked as he pointed to the bottle Gajeel held up. 

“They’re called exballs and they’re said to be a medicine that lets you use magic in this world, we’ll talk about the rest after you take these,” Gajeel explained. 

“‘Said to be?’” Erza pointed out. 

“I got ‘em from Mystogan,” Gajeel said as he shook the bottle gently. 

“From Mystogan?” Erza asked. 

“Yup, now hurry up. We need to figure out a new plan to save the rest of the guild,” Gajeel said. 

Gray and Erza looked at one another before taking the pills. They clenched their fist and Gray made a small ice fairy tail symbol while Erza equipped a sword. 

“It seems it worked. Now, I have a hunch that the people in the castle will know where the rest of your guild is. I can help take you there but I cannot help aid in battle, I do have to do my job as a reporter you know,” The other Gajeel said. 

“Ah, I should probably mention the blonde is here, I don’t know where though. There’s also reason to believe that the other dragon slayers are here, I don’t know where they are though,” Gajeel said as they got ready to head for the castle. 

“When we arrive, it would be best for us to split up. Gajeel’s magic is the only one who can turn your friends back into their original state so when you find out where the lacrima is, report to him. I have a feeling it would be outside so Gajeel can go outside and fend off guards while trying to figure out where it is while you two do inside and try to find leads. I doubt word has reached that you two have escaped so you should still have the element of surprise.” 

“Ain’t he smart?” Gajeel asked as they ran.

“Smarter than you,” Gray muttered. 

“What did ya say?! I won’t hesitate to smack you down!” Gajeel shouted and Gray got into a fighting pose. 

“Knock it off, you boys! We need to find the others!” Erza shouted as she smacked both of them on the back of the head. 

The other Gajeel shrunk back as a nervous sweat formed on his forehead. He wondered how strong she was if she was able to control Gajeel so easily. 

“What are you going to do?” Gray asked the other Gajeel. 

“Oh, me? I shall be asking around for any information I can get as well as writing down what happens. My reporter instincts are telling me there is a big story just about to happen,” The other Gajeel said. 

“We should hurry,” Erza said. 

They followed the other Gajeel until they arrived at the castle. They all pressed up against a wall, the other Gajeel turned to look at them.

“I say, Gajeel will go out first and distract the guards. From there, you two will go in and try to find the information we need,” The other Gajeel said. 

Gajeel smirked, “I’ve been itchin’ to fight the guards!” 

“Gajeel,” Erza said. Both Gajeel’s turned to look at her, she looked awkward as she pointed to the Earthland Gajeel, “Er, I was talking to our Gajeel.” 

“I see,” Edolas Gajeel responded.

“Anyways, what should we do if you figure out where they’re at before us?” Erza asked. 

Gajeel smirked as he started to walk away, “Oh don’t worry. I’m sure the Master will have some things to say to the king for what he wanted to do with his children.”

Erza and Gray smiled.

“Good luck,” Everyone said as Gajeel waved them off and walked out. 

“It’s the guy from the plaza!”

“Get him!” 

Gajeel smirked as he held out his arms and beckoned for the guards to come at him. He wondered how quickly he could beat them. 

Gajeel saw as Erza and Gray ran past, he saw a soldier start to point at him so he took him out first. 

~~~

“Gajeel!” 

Gajeel punched a guy in the face before looking up from the group and saw the blue cat flying toward him. 

“Cat! You’re okay?” Gajeel shouted as he looked up at the cat. 

He looked pretty battered up. How twisted were the people here that they attacked a cat? 

“I’ll lead you to where the lacrima is that all our friends were turned into!” Happy shouted. 

Next thing Gajeel knew, Happy was grabbing him and they were in the air. 

“Oi! Wait! Don’t just grab me!” Gajeel shouted as he began to struggle. 

“How do you return the people to normal from a lacrima?” Happy asked as they rose more. 

Gajeel smirked, “You shatter it with Dragon Slayer Magic!” 

“That actually works?”

“I did exactly like Mystogan said, so no complainin’!” 

“By the way, Mystogan didn’t come?” Happy asked as they neared the lacrima. 

“How should I know?” Gajeel shouted. 

“We’re here!” Happy shouted as they landed on the island that the lacrima sat on. 

“I-it’s big,” Gajeel muttered as he stared up at the lacrima. 

“It’s bigger than I anticipated,” Happy commented. 

“Man, this guild’s a real pain in the ass!” Gajeel commented when suddenly his stomach growled. 

He should not have used so much magic against those guards. 

“When I get home, I’m gonna eat my fill of iron!” Gajeel growled as he prepared to release his secret art. 

“You can do it, Gajeel!” Happy shouted encouragingly. 

That was when something hit the island, the pure force from the hit made him lose his stepping and it sounded like the cat got sent flying. 

“Who the hell are you?!” Gajeel shouted as he looked back in the direction of the hit.

“Ah! That guy’s…” Happy trailed off as the attacker spoke. 

Gajeel jumped up and landed in front of the little guy, he had to protect him.

“Captain of the First Magic Regiment of the Royal Army...Panther Lily. This lacrima is completely crucial for this operation. I will not let you-!” Panther Lilly flew closer with his sword drawn back ready to land another blow. 

“Wings? Don’t tell me he’s an Exceed?!” Happy shouted as he stared up at the flying attacker. 

“Stand back, Cat,” Gajeel said as he turned his right arm into a sword. 

“Sword of the Iron Dragon!” Gajeel shouted as he aimed for Panther Lily. 

“Bust Ma’am!” Lily shouted as his sword enlarged. 

Gajeel’s eyes widened as the sword drew closer, he turned his arm to normal and jumped back as the sword sliced through where he was just standing and cut clean through a chunk of the island. 

The lacrima was safe and the cat had wings so he should be safe as well. 

“This guy…” Gajeel muttered, he was really strong. 

“Can someone like you defeat me?” Panther Lily asked as he stared at Gajeel.

Gajeel smirked as he grabbed his biceps, he was going to turn it into a sword or club. 

“The real question should be if you can defeat me?” Gajeel said. 

“I’ll carry you!” Happy shouted as he got up and flew over to Gajeel. 

“Oi! Wait-” Gajeel shouted but he was already in the air and Panther Lily was swinging his large sword at him. 

“Club of the Iron Dragon!” Gajeel shouted as he used his left arm to deflect the sword. 

“Gihi! You ain’t bad!” Gajeel shouted. 

“So this is Earthland magic…it is quite intriguing,” Panther Lily responded.

“This is getting exciting!” Gajeel shouted. “Finally a guy that’s actually near my level!”

Gajeel had had few cases where he had to be on defense rather than attacking. 

“This isn’t the time to be enjoying yourself!” Happy scolded. “And besides, you’re heavy, Gajeel! Well, not as heavy as Lucy…”

Gajeel smirked at the diss at the blonde, “You sure you should be sayin’ that? Lucy’s gonna pulverize you.”

“I take back what I said!” Happy exclaimed in a panic. 

“You can put me down,” Gajeel said. 

“Aye!”

“You’re Salamander’s cat, yeah...I’ll look forward to fightin’ in the air when I find my own cat,” Gajeel said as he stared at Panther Lily. 

“Gajeel…” Happy whispered. 

“Magic Charging Complete! Master Ma’am, reactivate!” Panther Lily shouted. 

“But damn that’s one big sword!” Gajeel said in awe. 

“Aye! If we measure it this way, it’s 4 Panther Lily’s big!” Happy said as he dramatically pointed at Panther Lily. 

“Who gives a crap about it?” Gajeel shouted. 

Gajeel and Happy shouted as Panther Lily landed another hit and sent them flying. 

“Chatting during a battle? You are overly confident,” Panther Lily shouted.

“He chopped off some of the island!” Happy shouted. 

“It ain’t just big...the guy who’s wielding it is skilled as well,” Gajeel commented as he looked at up at Panther Lily. 

“I’ll make you nothing more than rust on my Great Sword, Master Ma’am! Earthland wizard!” 

“I see. But you know, rust is pretty,” Gajeel said as he smiled. 

“Aye! Gajeel’s iron, after all!” 

“Here I go!” Panther Lily shouted. 

“Bring it!” Gajeel shouted back. 

Gajeel laughed as Panther Lily flew forward and he pushed him away with his arm which he turned into a sword. Panther Lily backed away before adjusting his hold on the sword and tightening his grip. 

“Crumble to pieces!” Panther Lily shouted. 

Gajeel grabbed Happy’s shirt and pulled him out of the way. 

“What’re we gonna do, Gajeel?” Happy cried out. “This fight’s been completely one-sided!”

“Gihi, but the fun’s only started, see!” 

“I cannot allow that to pass without a response,” Panther Lily said as he flew closer.

Gajeel’s eyes widened as he threw Happy away from the attack as he turned his arm into a club.

“Taking a ‘wait-and-see’ approach? You make light of me!”

“The hell I am! I’m just takin’ my time having a taste of your power,” Gajeel responded. 

“Gajeel, that was so mean! I’m not some object! Don’t chuck me!” Happy shouted from behind. 

“I saved your ass, so no complainin’! Anyway, you’re in the way! If you’re gonna dart around, I’ll finish you off first!” Gajeel shouted as he glared at Happy.

“He’s so mean...he’s so scary,” Happy mumbled. 

“Okay, that’s enough of our comedy act. Let’s finally get things started for real, shall we?” Gajeel asked Panther Lily.

“Just try it, Earthland wizard!” 

When the fight started up again, Gajeel found himself being equal to Panther Lily. Perhaps it was that he had to avoid the lacrima as well that made the fight so hard but Panther Lily was certainly talented. 

“Gajeel!” Happy shouted as Gajeel grabbed the sword since he ran out of time to turn his arms into weapons. 

“Unarmed, you can stop my iron-hard sword? Earthland magic is full of surprises,” Panther Lily commented.

“Sorry to break it to you, but an Iron Dragon’s iron isn’t normal iron. Anyway, aren’t you one of the cats? Why’re you working for the Royal Army?” Gajeel asked.

“U-um, you’re an Exceed like me, right? Would...you like a fish?” Happy asked from aside. 

“That’s in the past. I have forsaken my homeland! That fake country!” Panther Lily shouted. 

“An outcast, huh?” Gajeel muttered as he trembled from the impact of the sword. “I like it. Same as me.” 

Gajeel laughed as he looked up, “I like your style! Gajeel shattered the sword and looked up at Panther Lily, “I’m gonna make this guy my cat!” 

“My Buster Ma’am!” Panther Lily shouted. 

Gajeel laughed as he jumped up on the lacrima points and landed a punch straight in Panther Lily’s face. 

“But first I gotta show you which one of us is stronger!” Gajeel shouted.

He set Panther Lily to the ground and as he towered over him he shouted, “I won’t be outdone by Salamander or that little girl!” 

“Roar of the Iron Dragon!” 

Gajeel watched as the smoke cleared up, Panther Lily tore off the cape part of his outfit and stood up. 

“Gihi, that’s how it’s gotta be,” Gajeel said as he popped his knuckled. 

“You’re strong,” Panther Lily said before smirking and launching forward. 

They started to have a fistfight, hit after hit Panther Lily still stood. 

Gajeel smirked, “Yer definitely gonna be my cat!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the really late update! I returned to school and things have been a mess with e-learning and such, hopefully, updates come out earlier once I figure things out with school and stuff.


	10. Chapter 10

As Gajeel pulled his arm back ready to land a hit, the island started to tremble. 

“What the...?!” Gajeel shouted as he braced himself. 

“Hm, the dragon chain has connected,” Pantherlily said rather smugly. 

“We didn’t make it,” Gajeel muttered out.

“You put up a valiant effort, however, we have won this battle,” Pantherlily said.

Gajeel clenched his teeth, “You haven’t won shit. Those idiots down there never give up when it comes to protecting their friends.”

“Shall we continue this fight then?” 

Gajeel was about to respond when they started to move. 

“Are we moving?” Gajeel asked.

“We will ram this lacrima into Extalia, and they will annihilate each other,” Pantherlily confessed and smirked as he saw them growing closer. 

“That’s nuts,” Gajeel said as he looked at the lacrima, his guildmates were still alive in there. “This is messed up,” Gajeel muttered. 

He had to break them out. 

“How-how can you do something so horrible?” Happy asked through tears. 

Pantherlily let out a huff as he looked away, “I don’t need to explain anything to you.” 

“Gajeel!” Happy cried out. “Hurry and destroy the lacrima and turn everyone back to normal!” Happy shouted as they picked up speed. 

“I won’t make it, it’s accelerating!” Gajeel muttered as he stared at Extalia getting bigger by the second. 

The lacrima was too big - if it took as much time as it did to turn Erza and Gray back then the others would become their old forms as they crashed into the island. With his limited magic energy, he had to choose to turn the others back or do what he can to stop the islands from crashing. 

What should he do?

He had to decide quickly!

Each second was needed. 

Should he risk them turning back as they collide? Risk getting crushed and failing to stop the islands from crashing? 

What should he-

“Natsu!!”

Suddenly the blue cat started to shout out the Salamander’s name. Gajeel sensed their magic energy and smirked. 

They sure did like to arrive right in the nick of time. 

He had decided what to do. 

Gajeel smirked as he began to run off, “We’ll finish this later, cat!”

“Running for it?” Pantherlily shouted in shock.

“I ain’t runnin’ or hidin’! I’m going to stop this and finish this!” 

“Stop it? You’re going to ‘stop’ it? The entire floating island connected to the Dragon Chain? That’s a fool’s errand! There is no tomorrow for us, we have nothing left!” 

“Oi!” Gajeel shouted as he turned back on the ledge and pointed at the cat. “After this, I’m taking you back to my guild one way or the other! And then I’m making you my cat. Gihi.” 

Gajeel jumped off the island and started to freefall. He had kicked off the side so he landed on Extalia. He dug his spades into the ground to make sure he stayed. 

Gajeel squinted as he looked around to see who he could have out and saw familiar scarlet hair. 

“Gajeel? Why haven’t you returned everyone else to normal like us? You have to hurry!” Erza shouted as they both pushed against the island. 

“That black cat got in my way!” Gajeel shouted referring to Pantherlily. 

Gray and Lucy backed him up and continued to push against the island. 

Gajeels arms burned as the force of the island pushed back on him. He scowled, he had to train more. If he had trained more he could have held his own! 

If he had been stronger he could have beaten Pantherlily and turned everyone back by now. Maybe then this would not have happened. 

Gajeel grunted as his arms went back slightly more, there was no way they could push the island away by themselves. They needed a whole army or a few more of himself. 

Maybe if he had some iron…

“Gah!” Gajeel shouted as the island pushed forward slightly more, his muscles were burning. 

“Hold on!” Erza shouted. “We have to keep the islands from crashing!” 

Suddenly, a bunch of flying cats appeared. They flocked to the sides and pushed against the island to help.

Gajeel was in awe at the sight and among them, he noticed a cat with one wing. He watched as her one wing disappeared and she started to fall. He smirked when he saw his cat catch her. 

That idiot had finally opened his mind. 

He would fit in nicely at Fairy Tail. 

Suddenly, the island was engulfed by a strong white light and everyone was pushed away. Gajeel shielding his eyes and felt a pair of cat paws holding him. 

When the light left, he looked at the island and saw the lacrima was gone. 

“Tha lacrima,” Gajeel whispered. 

That was when he noticed Mystogan, and Gajeel smiled. 

Even before Mystogan started his little speech, he knew the others were back where they were meant to be and safe. 

All he had left was to get his cat and go back-

“Ugh!” Pantherlily shouted in pain as he got pierced by a purple beam. 

“Black cat!” Gajeel shouted as he watched his cat start to fall. 

He looked down to see another Erza holding a magic weapon aimed at where his cat was. Gajeel clenched his fist and scowled. 

Before he could react, things started to escalate rather quickly. He watched as a ball-like object emerged from the ground. 

He watched as it uncurled to reveal a fake dragon. 

Things got even weirder when blue shots were fired and the cats were made into lacrima if hit. 

“We have to go!” The cat carrying him shouted as he dodged the beams while dragging Gajeel along. 

“Oi, take me down there to that heap of junk,” Gajeel muttered. 

“W-what?! But that’s-!

“I know, but that’s nothin’ compared to me, cat.”

“I’m an exceed…”

“Are we going or not, cat?!” Gajeel shouted and the cat jumped slightly before flying down with Gajeel and setting him down on the ground. 

“I’m leaving now, take care and beat that thing!” The cat shouted as he flew away. 

“Tch,” Gajeel muttered as he jumped up and hit it with an iron club. 

He jumped away and landed near where Natsu had. Then Wendy landed after hitting the beat with a sky roar. 

“Hey, not bad, Wendy,” Natsu complimented. 

“No...the attackers from the two of you did more damage,” Wendy said. 

“Let’s do it...how dare they do that to my cat,” Gajeel grumbled out.

The old man realized who they were and Natsu sent the others away to take care of the cats. 

“Oi, Wendy,” Gajeel called out as he and Natsu popped their knuckles. 

“Y-yes?” Wendy asked as she looked at him. 

“I trust you to take care of us,” Gajeel said and Wendy smiled as she clenched her fist and nodded. “Let’s do this, Salamander,” Gajeel said. 

“Teaming up with you, again?” Natsu chided. 

“You and I can settle things after we give this thing the bustin’ up it deserves,” Gajeel said with a smirk. 

“I’m all fired up,” Natsu said. 

“Foolish children…” 

“I’ll provide support!” Wendy shouted as she began to mutter her spell. 

Suddenly Gajeel felt light as a feather, “My body...it’s as light as a feather!” 

He began to fly around the dragon and as he flew by he hit it with an iron club. Natsu hit him with his flame attacks but they did not seem to be causing any damage. 

“Damn this thing! just how is it?” Gajeel shouted. 

“We’re barely denting it!” Natsu pointed out. 

“If that’s the case!” Wendy shouted then she started another spell. 

“What is it this time?’ Gajeel asked as he looked down at himself to see if he saw what was happening. 

“It feels like the power is welding up in me,” Natsu said. 

Gajeel knew exactly what he was talking about as well, it was similar to when he ate iron after losing tons of magic energy but yet it was different. 

“It’s magic that increases your attack power!” Wendy shouted. 

“You ain’t bad,” Gajeel complimented. 

With that, they both took off and started their relentless attack. Then the old man decided to attack Wendy, Gajeel clenched his teeth but turned back to figure out where to attack next. 

That girl, she might be little but she could hold her own. 

However, when he looked up she was being followed by the attack, “They’re homing?”

She could still outrun them-

Wendy suddenly tripped. 

Gajeel was about to rush over when he saw Natsu was already there. He then smirked, that old man was probably distracted so it was his time to attack. 

“There’s more where that came from!” The old man shouted. 

“Geehee! I ain’t gonna let ya!” Gajeel shouted as he slammed his iron-hammer arms on the scrap beast. 

“So annoying!” 

Gajeel let out a grunt of pain as he was hit and sent flying out of the way. 

“Tch, that kinda hurt,” Gajeel muttered as he looked around and found the tail of the beast nearby. 

He could smell the low-quality iron. 

He was a kind of crying out loud! Why did he not build that junk with some good iron? 

Gajeel frowned as he leaned down, desperate times called for desperate measures. 

He bit off a few pieces when the old guy finally noticed. He heard the Salamander complaining about the crappy fire he had to eat. 

Maybe it was this world, maybe they did not compare to where he came from. 

“Now that I’ve eaten, I’m all revved up!” Gajeel shouted alongside Natsu. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” Natsu asked as he shot him a side-glance. 

“Yer one annoying pest,” Gajeel spat out. 

He smirked as the old man was in shock on how powerful they were. With the way the fight was going so far, he doubted it was going to take much longer. Heck, maybe even Levy’s lackeys could beat it. 

“Sure is strong. It ain’t called a “dragon” for nothing,” Natsu said as he looked up at the beast.

“Give me a break, this ain’t even close to a dragon!” 

He was confident he could beat the beast when something started to happen. 

“What’s this?” Gajeel asked as he watched a black aura start to form around the beast. 

“It’s collecting magic energy from the air,” Wendy whispered. 

Suddenly, a loud screeching sound erupted from the thing. Gajeel and the other two dragonslayers covered their ears and trembled at the pain it sent to their ears. Then the thing attacked the area they stood, the power of the hit sent Natsu flying. 

Gajeel dug his spades into the ground, “Wendy!” He shouted as he extended his hand. 

She took his hand and he brought her close, he did his best to protect Wendy from the wind sent by the force of the hit. 

“Oi, are you okay?” Gajeel asked as he let go of her once the wind died out. 

“Yes, thank you. What about Natsu-san?” Wendy asked.

Gajeel looked up as did Wendy as they heard Natsu shouting an attack. They both watched as he was swatted away like a fly. 

“Natsu-san!” Wendy shouted in panic. 

“Even with the power of Arms, our attacks won’t work!” Gajeel shouted. 

The only man started to ramble on, Gajeel paid no mind to him. He had to figure out where to strike to send him down for good, he was starting to get annoying.

Maybe if he took down the legs, the thing would collapse. Though, if he did that old man would hit him with his arms as he had done before. Perhaps he should go for the arms instead? That would be tough too since he would hit him with the other arm or shake him off…

“Be afraid, Dragon Wizards!” The old man shouted. 

Gajeel could not react in time as a white beam expanded quickly and sent him and Wendy up and flying. They both shouted out in pain as they were attacked. 

He should have been paying attention!  
Gajeel let out a grunt as he landed on the ground, he needed more power…

“You have no chance of winning,” The old man sneered. 

“Everyone’s suffering from lack of magic power...but their King sure has plenty all for himself,” Natsu muttered as he stood tall. 

“It's only natural for a king to tax his people. Drom Anim is constantly observing magic power from the entire world the ultimate magical weapon! That's also the reason it is a forbidden weapon once activated, I have a duty to win for the sake of the world!” 

“For the world?!” Wendy exclaimed. 

“Yer just stealing magic for yourself! How can you say that with a straight face?!” Gajeel shouted in disgust. 

“Hehehe,” The old man laughed. 

“See, we joined a guild so that we could live,” Natsu said. “I might not know much about this world, but for the sake of all the living things of this world, I will defeat you!” Natsu shouted. 

“No matter how many times you stand you will never be able to beat me! Those with magic power will rule the world! That's something this world requires!”

“Stop twistin’ logic to justify your actions! You dolt!” Gajeel shouted as he charged forward. 

He was going to beat that old man senseless if he did not stop yapping away. Gajeel let out a shout after he attacked only to be sent down. 

If he had to rate landing on top of rubble from the top of a fake dragon, he had to rate it a one out of ten. Not an ideal place to fall but better than the time he fell into a pit full of spikes. 

As the fight continues, Gajeel could feel their magic energies going down more and more. Soon enough, they were on the ground only to be shot through the air after yet another attack. 

The old man started to collect magic energy once again...they had to end it now. 

“Salamander, use your roar. You too, brat,” Gajeel said to the other two. 

“All three at the same time?” Wendy asked softly. 

“I didn’t want to suggest it ‘cause I’m not sure what’ll happen but we got no choice!” Gajeel said. 

The other two agreed and they all send their respective dragon roar at the beast. 

“Did that do it?” Gajeel asked. 

All three started to smile when the old man started to laugh. Gajeel was sick of his laugh already. 

“It could jump that high?” Gajeel asked as they all stared up at the old man. 

Before they could try again, he sent an attack raining down hitting all of them and sending them back to the ground. Gajeel clenched his teeth, he was getting sick of landing on the ground. 

“This is bad...my magic power is...running out,” Gajeel muttered as he stared up at the sky. 

He wondered if it was the end…? He had basically no magic now so what now? He had not been able to beat it when he had had more magic so why?

“Don’t give up!” Natsu shouted. 

Gajeel groaned as he turned to look at Natsu, the fool was standing and getting stepped on by the beat. 

“Fool...what can you do without any magic power?” Gajeel asked as he tried to push himself up. 

“I squeeze it out! I’ll squeeze it out from tomorrow if I have to!” Natsu shouted. 

‘From tomorrow?’ Gajeel wondered. He then remembered what he had told Pantherlily earlier when he said they had no tomorrow. Yeah, there was no way he was going to die. 

Not then!

Gajeel jumped up and turned to Wendy, “Can you send me up there?” Gajeel asked.

Wendy nodded and soon enough Gajeel was flying down to the beast with an iron club ready to smash into it. 

“We don’t need to combine our powers! All we need is our power, our wishes, to be as one!” Gajeel shouted as he slammed down on the foot of the beast. 

“Locked down! Now you can’t escape into the air!” Gajeel shouted. “Go Salamander! It’s gotta be you! You do it!” Gajeel shouted.

“Let go of me, you brat!’ The old man shouted. 

“Never, you piece of crap!” Gajeel shouted. 

He looked up at Natsu as he prepared to make his attack. He was going to use Wendy’s roar to shoot through the damn beast.

Gajeel smirked when he saw Natsu flying out of the beast with the old man in his grasp. His job was done, Gajeel let out a huff as he sat up. Natsu started to cheer and brought in the connection to chess, Wendy had to point out that checkmate was called before one takes out the kind. 

Gihi, idiot,” Gajeel said. 

Suddenly the area they were in started to tremble. 

“W-what’s that?” Natsu asked. 

“Reinforcements? You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me...I’m really out of magic power now,” Gajeel said as he looked down at his hands. 

“T-that’s not it!!” Wendy shouted.

Gajeel looked up to see the islands in the sky as they began to fall. 

“What is that coming out of the land?” Wendy whispered in horror.

“That old man doomed his people even quicker or something,” Gajeel muttered. 

“Hey! Old man! Do something about this! Your world is falling apart!” Natsu shouted as he grabbed the King’s robs and shook his back and forth even though he was unconscious. 

“Natsu-san, you shouldn’t do that,” Wendy said softly. 

“Let him, maybe he’ll wake up a brain cell or two,” Gajeel said. 

Wendy let out a gasp, “That’s magic power!” 

“Magic power?” Natsu asked as he stepped away from the old man.

“Won’t losing all magic power be a big problem?” Gajeel asked.

“Yes, we have to help! Let’s head back to the city around the castle!” Wendy exclaimed. 

“What do you plan to do?” Natsu asked. 

“I’m worried about the people in the city! There might be something we can do!” Wendy shouted. 

“Yeah...I think I understand what you mean,” Gajeel said. 

The three of them ran towards the city despite their battered state. Gajeel looked up at the sky ask another piece of a floating island came crashing down. 

‘Is this world finished?’ Gajeel wondered. 

He knew that Wendy was still a child so she did not understand the full capacity of what was going on, on the other hand, Natsu was the same age as him but...he was Natsu. 

He wondered if he was the only one who understood what was going to happen to this world. 

~~~

“Should we get disguises?” Natsu asked as they entered the very edge of the city. 

“For what, Natsu-san?” Wendy asked.

“Well, Mystogan said he was this world’s prince, and knowing him, he was the one who did something to get rid of the magic power here in Edolas, right?” Natsu asked. 

“Yeah, seems about right, he was the only one to know about this entire thing,” Gajeel said. 

“Knowing Mystogan, he’s going to try and take the blame and be charged for this. He’ll be the enemy who took magic power from them, and he’ll appoint a leader for the citizens to follow that defeats him. With the enemy gone, the people will praise the new leader and follow him or her to fix their world instead of being left in a panic,” Natsu said. 

“That makes sense, are you saying we should play that role?” Wendy asked. 

“Yes, and I have the perfect plan!” Natsu said way too happy. 

‘I don’t trust that smile,’ Gajeel said as Natsu smiled at him. 

~~~

“Yer an idiot,” Gajeel muttered as he looked at Natsu with the fake horns. 

“Oh come on! It’s ingenious!” Natsu shouted as Wendy touched the ends of the makeshift cloak. 

They had ripped apart a fabric from some abandoned little shop and fashioned them into cloaks. Natsu had found fake horns as well. 

“Come on, all we have to do is rough the city up a bit and get Mystogan to fight us and beat us. After that, we can go home!” Natsu said as they walked toward the city. 

“I don’t know if I can hurt people,” Wendy said softly. 

“Come on Gajeel, you’re on board, right?” 

“Well, considering this is your first and probably last semi-decent plan, I’ll do it,” Gajeel said. 

The two of them started to riot and Wendy hesitantly joined in. As Gajeel bit through a dull - and pretty gross tasting - sword causing several people to run off, Natsu had climbed to the top of a building. Gajeel watched as Natsu began his little speech.

“I am the Great Demon King, Dragneel! I’ve taken all this world’s magic power!” Natsu shouted as he laughed ‘evily’. He laughed a bit more as people got scared, “I’m the one...who beat your king!” Natsu shouted as he pointed to the king that had been tied up. “Maybe I’ll let him live just as a special favor!” Natsu said with yet another laugh. “Redfox! Marvel! Destroy the city, my loyal servants!”

Gajeel and Natsu dragged the old man along. 

Gajeel cringed at being called his loyal servant but he decided to make a big scene. He sliced through a crumbling building - that would have fallen anyway - and sent it crashing behind him. 

“Gihi!” Gajeel laughed. 

He spotted Edolas him playing along and smirked, he was going to miss that guy. 

He then noted Wendy trying to scare a boy and failing, if she did that to Macao or Wakaba, they would probably coo at her. Gajeel sighed as he went over and gave that boy a scary look. 

“I’m sorry,” Wendy whispered as she looked down. 

“Yer tryin’ yer best,” Gajeel said before glancing over to the other him and smirking. 

“Destroy more of the city! My servants!” Natsu shouted. 

“Shut up with the “servant” thing already, you jerk!” Gajeel shouted. 

“Whatever, just do it!” Natsu shouted. 

“Tch, he’s talking like he’s hot stuff...” Gajeel grumbled. 

He continued to mess with people when Natsu suddenly addressed what he had been waiting for. Now that he was telling Jellal to fight him, he would get to go back soon. 

‘He might be tryin’ to give the prince some heroics by doing this stupid act but when it comes to light that he’s just faking being beaten, there’ll be no turning back,’ Gajeel though as he crossed his arms as he stood next to Wendy. 

As he watched, he saw Natsu was going to give the people a show. The prince was going to be a magic-user with no magic. 

“I wish he would hurry up, I wanna go eat,” Gajeel grumbled.

“Do you want some iron? I can find some around here,” Wendy said as he pointed to a nearby shop. 

“Little Miss Marvel, stealing? Oh my, gihi,” Gajeel said as Wendy flushed and tried to explain herself. “Oh, it looks like the fight is over,” Gajeel said as they looked at them.

Gajeel then looked at the other him who was leaving, he raised his hand to Gajeel as a farewell, “Gihi.”

“It’s started,” Wendy pointed out as they started to glow. 

“Okay...let’s put on a real show as we kick the bucket!” Gajeel said loudly. 

As he floated in the air, he closed his eyes. 

He was going back to where everything was right.


	11. Chapter 11

Gajeel grunted as he pushed himself up, he had expected the fall but forgot to account for the others falling on him. Once he was up, he and the others looked over to see Magnolia back. 

The biggest shock was the Exceeds there. 

Speaking of, Gajeel scanned the exceeds. 

Where the hell was his cat?

Gajeel silently listened to the Exceeds explain what happened that sent the cats to their world. The more he listened, the more irritated he got. 

Out of one hundred exceeds, he was not able to get one but the idiot and kid got one? 

He clenched his teeth, it did not matter anymore. He just had to find Pantherlily. He got an even better cat, he was strong and would be a great sparring partner. Yeah, no one can match Pantherlily. 

Especially not some weak cat such as Happy or Carla. 

Gajeel was getting more irritated as they were making a sentimental goodbye to the exceeds. He had yet to find Pantherlily, there was no way he was going to let him flake on him. 

As they talked about heading back to the guild, Gajeel decided to speak up. 

“Oi, hold it a sec!” Gajeel interrupted. 

“Wait Gajeel? You want to do it too?” Natsu asked as he mimicked the quick up and down hand movement that the cat with the weird head shape did. 

“It’s fun!” Wendy exclaimed as she also did it. 

“Is there was a point to it! Where’s Lily?” Gajeel grunted out. “I ain’t seen Pantherlily around anywhere!” Gajeel shouted.

“Lily?” Gray questioned. 

“That super-strong Exceed,” Lucy responded before Gajeel could. 

“If you want me, I’m right here,” Pantherlily replied as he stepped out. 

Gajeel smirked but his smirk fell when he laid eyes on Pantherlily, the Exceed was the same size as Happy and Carla! He was supposed to be really buff!

“Dinky!” They all shouted in shock at his new size. 

“You sure got cutesy,” Happy said. 

“It seems as if Earthland does not match well with my constitution,” Pantherlily responded. 

“Are you sure you’re okay there?” Carla asked.

Gajeel could see that he was still bandaged, his wound must have shrunk a lot too. 

“Right now, I want to join this guild that took care of the Prince,” Pantherlily responded. “You’ll keep your promise and let me in? Right Gajeel?” Pantherlily suddenly asked.

Gajeel glanced at Erza who gave him confirmation. Gajeel smirked before rushing over and embracing the cat. 

“Of course I will, partner!” Gajeel cried out. “We’ll head out to get you your guild mark right now!” Gajeel exclaimed as he set Pantherlily back on the ground.

“Welcome to the guild, Pantherlily. I do hope to spar with you in the future if you return to your previous form,” Erza said and Pantherlily nodded. 

“Now, about another matter...I caught someone suspicious,” Pantherlily said as he pulled on the rope he had been holding. 

“Oh! A big catch right off the bat! That’s my cat for ya!” Gajeel exclaimed. 

“Come here,” Pantherlily said as he pulled on the rope more. 

“W-wait! I-I’m not...anyone...suspicious...” A feminine voice replied as she came stumbling down from behind a tree. 

She claimed to be a member of the guild but Gajeel had never seen her before, though that white hair looked familiar. She then pestered Pantherlily with who he was. 

“I am Pantherlily,” Lily calmly responded. 

Gajeel scowled as he crouched beside his new partner for back up, “What’s yer problem? You talkin’ crap ‘bout my cat?!”

The others seemed to know who she was and she tackled the flame-for-brains which dragged lily along. Gajeel was then shocked to find out that she was Lisanna, he had heard MIrajane and Elfman talking about going to visit her grave the day he got sent to Edolas. 

Her white hair was definitely the same. 

He silently listened to her talk about she wound up in Edolas. He had to admit, she had had a hard time. What were the odds she was really alive? 

“You should go to your sister and brother, they should be at your grave at the church,” Erza said. 

“Don’t worry, we’ll go with you,” Lucy added.

Lisanna smiled as Natsu took the ropes off of her hands. 

“Thank you guys,” Lisanna said. 

Gajeel silently tagged along and watched as she reunited with her siblings. He wondered if his old man would cry once they were reunited. 

Gajeel snorted, as if. 

“I think we should leave them alone to catch up,” Wendy said softly. 

“I agree,” Gray said and everyone nodded. 

“I’m going back home for a well-deserved bath,” Lucy said as she smiled. 

“We’re going too!” Natsu shouted only to get smacked by Lucy. 

Gajeel snorted when he felt a tug on his pant leg. 

“Are we going to go to get my mark first or do you want to wash up too? I did give you a hard time,” Pantherlily said and Gajeel smirked. 

“Yer gettin’ yer mark. I’m showin’ off my new partner, let’s go!” Gajeel exclaimed and Pantherlily nodded. 

“What’s the guild like? Is everyone else there as strong as you are?’ 

“Tch, of course not. I’m one of the strongest members, if I wanted, I could probably take them all,” Gajeel gloated. 

“I see, I expect to fight you again in the future to train. First I have to figure out how to get to my old form,” Pantherlily muttered. 

“We can ask the master. If not, there’s this really smart bookworm, her name is Levy. She’s going to be the small one with two idiots by her side,” Gajeel said. 

“Should you be insulting your guildmates like this? Aren’t they your comrades?” Pantherlily asked. 

“Eh? I’m just sayin’ the truth, you’ll see when you meet them,” Gajeel said. 

“Speaking of which, do you live around here? Now that I think about it, it would be better for us to wash up. I don’t want the guild to think I’m some beast,” Pantherlily said. 

Gajeel smirked, “They’ll see yer battle scars. Though, I guess yet right. Follow me.”

The two arrived at Gajeel’s apartment soaking wet, “You can wash up first, I can’t have ya catchin’ a cold now can I?” Gajeel asked. 

Pantherlily side-eyed the bigger male as he scratched his cheek, “I think you should wash up first…”

Gajeel ushered the cat in and dried himself off with a towel. He looked around his apartment and frowned, his apartment hardly looked like he even lived there. Aside from the random glove thrown on his floor, his apartment had nothing.

He had never bothered with furnishing since he either spent his time working, training or at the guild. Now that he shared a place with Pantherlily, he felt self-conscious. 

What if Pantherlily thought he was pitiful for living in such a place…?

“You know, I like your place. Also, I hope you don’t mind that I took another towel without asking,” Pantherlily said. 

Gajeel turned around to find the exceed with a hand towel around his waist and another he was using to dry his ears. 

“I must say, I’m going to have to go shopping for some of my own soap. Human soap just doesn’t work that well with fur,” Pantherlily said as he looked up at Gajeel. 

“We’ll go after your clothes dry,” Gajeel said as he went to his closet. 

“But I don’t have any money,” Pantherlily said as he flicked one of his ears. 

“Don’t worry about it, yer my partner now. I know yer not gonna settle with that so easily so pay me back by teachin’ me some of yer combat moves,” Gajeel said as he grabbed his clean clothes and headed for the bathroom. 

Pantherlily smirked, “Sure thing.” 

Gajeel relaxed while in the shower, the warm water eased the pain of his muscles. The combination of Pantherlily and the rust bucket sure did a number on him. He had to train more…

Once Gajeel stepped out and got dressed, he started to dry his hair. The shower had taken longer than he expected, but his body felt slightly better. 

“Are yer pants done dryin’ yet?” Gajeel asked as he walked out. 

There was no response. 

Gajeel arched an eyebrow as he scanned the room and found a black and grey ball at the end of his bed. Pantherlily had fallen asleep with the towel on. 

Gajeel decided against waking him up. As Gajeel grabbed himself a glass of water, his eyes drifted back to the cat. 

Now that Pantherlily was there, he would not be alone. Part of him was slightly relieved but the other was worried. 

What if he had a dream about that night? He would probably have to tell Lily what he did to Levy…

~~~

Pantherlily let out a groan as he sat up from his cozy spot, he blinked a few times from the sudden bright light. It was no longer raining.

Pantherlily turned his head and saw Gajeel on the floor meditating. Even though he had been through such trouble battles earlier, Gajeel did not slack off for even a second from training, truly remarkable, Panther Lily thought.

The Exceed silently went to get his clothes and put them on before heading back to Gajeel. He wondered if it was alright if he disrupted Gajeel when the other suddenly opened his eyes. 

“Oh, yer awake already?” Gajeel asked. 

“Yes, I woke up not too long ago,” Pantherlily said as he watched Gajeel stand up. 

“Alright, I think it’s time for you to become an official member of the guild,” Gajeel said. 

“It would be an honor.”

The two tugged on their shoes and headed to the guild. 

“Does this place have a lot of members?” 

“Yup, they’re mainly background characters so don’t pay too much attention to them,” Gajeel said as they walked closer. 

“Background characters?” Pantherlily muttered toward himself. 

“Hey, Gajeel!” 

The two looked up to see Natsu smiling as he waved at him. Gajeel sucked his teeth, of course, that idiot would address him like they were best buds or something. 

“What are you guys doin’?” Gajeel asked as he eyed the group who had also been in Edolas. 

“We all gathered to enter. We all got cleaned up and now with you, we’re complete. Let’s go in,” Erza said. 

Gajeel bit back any remarks he had as he complied and entered the guild with the others. He knew that the new girl would be getting a lot of attention but hardly anyone seemed to acknowledge Pantherlily. 

“So this is a wizards guild,” Pantherlily muttered as he took in the sight of the guild. 

He was in awe as he saw how many wizards there were. He wondered what types of magic they wielded. He knew some forms of magic from Edolas but he wondered if they had the same things. 

“Come on, let’s get you a guild mark,” Gajeel said.

Pantherlily nodded as he followed Gajeel. 

“Master, meet my partner Pantherlily. He’s a former commander in the Edolas army, ain’t he cool?” Gajeel asked as Pantherlily stood in front of the Master. 

“Pantherlily, eh? I’m guessing you want to join the guild then?” 

“Yes, sir. After all, that is only the least I can do after your guild took care of my Prince,” Pantherlily responded. 

“I see, well I’m glad to welcome you to the guild. Go on over to Mirajane and get your mark,” Master Makarov responded. 

Pantherlily nodded and followed Gajeel to Mirajane. She was the older sister of Lisanna.

“Glad to have you in the guild, I have a feeling your merchandise will sell well! What color mark do you want?” Mirajane asked. 

“M-merchandise?” Pantherlily asked but Mirajane’s smile did not budge. “Um, can you give me a grey color on my back?” Pantherlily asked and Mirajane nodded. 

He loosened the bandages and let her press the stamp on his back. 

“You’re officially a Fairy Tail wizard!” Mirajane happily said and Gajeel smiled. 

“While we’re here, you might as well mingle with the others,” Gajeel said and Pantherlily nodded. 

Pantherlily found himself on a table where Carla had been sitting. It had a clear view of the majority of the guild.

“Q-quite a lively guild…” Pantherlily muttered as someone was thrown across the building. 

“Everyone seems to get the same first impression,” Carla said as she got up from the spot she had been sitting on the table. 

“That’s what makes it fun!” Happy said as he landed on the table. 

“And everyone had magic power inside their body?” Lily asked. “Incredible…”

“That’s right. There are Earthland wizards,” Erza responded from the side of the table. 

“Erza!” Lily said in surprise. 

“Oh yeah,,, In Edolas, you worked with Erza, yes?” Carla asked. 

“Now you’re together again,” Happy said as he chewed on his fish. 

“But what’s important isn’t magic itself,” Erza said. “It’s the heart of the person who uses it. Isn’t that right, Lily?”

“Hm, even if you are a different person, seeing a familiar face puts me slightly more at ease,” Pantherlily responded. 

Gajeel finally got fed up with waiting and flipped a random table over in the process, “Okay, Salamander, little girl! Let’s have a fight between my Lily, the blue cat, and the white cat!” 

“Eh?” Natsu replied angrily.

“Sounds good to me!” Gildarts shouted. 

“Looks like you’ve got the eye of a bigshot, there…” Lucy teased Wendy. 

“Oh…” Wendy groaned out softly. 

“You’ be fine, probably,” Levy said sympathetically. 

“I’ve been waiting for you to ask!” Natsu challenged Gajeel.

“Gihi,” Gajeel snickered as he squared up. “Just so you know, my Lily is the strongest of the strong!” 

“And Happy is the cattiest of the cats, so there!” 

“Um...I’d lose in an instant,” Happy confessed. 

“Lame...What’s wit give up before even trying?’ Carla asked. 

“Huh? S-she expecting something from me?!” Happy shouted with a blush on his face. 

“Enough. I may not look it now, but I was a Regiment Commander in Edolas,” Pantherlily said as to stop the other from trying to pick a fight. “Useless fighting leads only to injury.”

“True…” Happy confessed. 

“You’re quite mature,” Erza praised Pantherlily. 

“Aren’t they simply being childish?” He asked. “Anyways, let’s all get along, Happy, Carla…”

Pantherlily turned to see Gajeel in a group fight with several members. He sighed. If only Gajeel had heard that before fighting. 

“I agree, it is quite childish to be picking fights like this,” Erza said. 

“Well as long as you help set an example-” Pantherlily got cut off by a wooden mug smacking into Erza’s head and spilling a drink all over her hair. 

She scowed as she turned to face the fight, “Who threw that?! Expose yourself and get ready for punishment!” Erza shouted as she summoned two swords. 

Pantherlily quickly got off the table as the other two Exceeds fled as the fight got closer to the table. He tried to reason with Erza as she swung the swords around and Gajeel was no better as he flipped someone over. 

Gajeel laughed as he tossed some loser onto a table for trying to land a hit on him. He hated to admit it but he had missed the background characters picking fights with him when the guild had been taken from him. 

He was going to enjoy what he could. 

~~~

Gajeel groaned as he sat up, he had fallen asleep on a table. He turned to see the other guild members still out cold from partying and fighting. A few members were gone while others stirred a bit. 

“I see you’re finally awake.”

Gajeel squinted as he saw Pantherlily sitting on the bench where no one had slumped against. 

“Were you here all night?” Gajeel asked as he ran a hand through his hair. 

“Pretty much, I had to turn some people and sit some up so that they wouldn’t drown if they puked up from drinking. At least you didn’t drink as much as some of them,” Pantherlily chided. 

Gajeel looked away as he recalled at one point having a drinking challenge with Cana, Guildarts, Wakaba, and Elfman. He could brag he outdrank half of the competition but he decided to forget that happened. 

“We should probably head back to the apartment and freshen up so we can come back and help these idiots to clean up,” Gajeel said and Pantherlily nodded. 

When they came back, everyone seemed to be awake and helping clean up. By the time they were done, Gajeel and Lily were starving. 

“Tch, there are already people piling up to eat,” Gajeel muttered as he stared at the growing line at the bar.

“There really are a lot of members,” Lily responded. 

He was amazed at how the guild had just had a big party and yet some of the members were already drinking and chattering loudly. 

“Man, I’m starving,” Gajeel muttered as he leaned back in his chair. 

“Here, you two can have this.”

Both males turned to see the solid script mage smiling as she placed a tray full of breakfast foods on the table. She slid it in front of Gajeel as she sat down across from Gajeel. 

“Aren’t you gonna eat?” Gajeel asked. 

“I am, but Jet and Droy both got me breakfast but I already got mine. I don’t want you two to be hungry or for the food to go to waste,” Levy explained as she showed her plate. 

“Thank you. I’m sorry but what’s your name?” Pantherlily asked. 

“I’m Levy McGarden and I use solid script magic,” Levy said with a smile. 

“She’s a total bookworm, she’s super smart,” Gajeel said with a smirk. 

Levy’ felt her face heat up at the unexpected compliment and looked away quickly. Pantherlily tilted his head slightly but Gajeel seemed to have not noticed as he ate. 

“I don’t mean to be ungrateful but is there something smaller I can eat? I’m not too hungry since I ate more than my fill yesterday,” Pantherlily said. 

“Here, you can eat this,” She said as she handed the exceed a kiwi. 

Pantherlily’s eyes were wide as he turned his head to the side slightly as he held the fruit in his paws. He gently turned it around and examined it. 

“What’s this?” Pantherlily asked. 

“It’s a kiwi, they’re pretty tart but taste great. Did your world not have any?” Levy asked. 

“Not that I’m aware of…” 

“Hey, Levy, I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” Gajeel said. 

Levy looked at him, “Oh? What is it?” 

“Back in Edolas, Lily had another form. In it, he’s taller than me and he can hold his own against me in combat, ” Gajeel explained as Pantherlily opened his mouth. “But when he came here, his body turned like that,” Gajeel said as he pointed to the Exceed. 

Levy’s eyes widened, “Woah, he can use transformation magic like Mira-chan?” 

Gajeel’s face showed confusion, “What do you mean?” 

“Well, all the Strauss siblings use transformation magic to change their bodies. Doesn’t Pantherlily do that too?” Levy asked. 

Both turned to see Pantherlily with tears running down his face and sparkles around him. They both noticed the half-eaten kiwi...with the skin still on. 

“Oh, this is just magnificent! I’ve never eaten something so delicious the sour and sweet balance out. Along with the magnificent texture of the skin!” 

“S-should I tell him?” Levy whispered. 

“He said he liked the skin so there’s no real harm done?” Gajeel whispered back. He cleared his throat before speaking again, “Say, Lily, can you use transformation magic?” 

Lily looked up at the two after taking yet another bite, “Transformation magic?” 

“Ah, it’s magic that can change a part of your body, for Elfman it allows him to change his body to any beast from a rockman to a cheetah. For Lisanna, it allows her to change herself into any animal so from what I hear, you can use it to change back into your other form,” Levy explained.

Gajeel watched her explain while resting his head on his hand. Levy was really smart.

“I can try, it shouldn’t be too different from when I use my wings,” Lily said as he wiped his paws on a napkin. 

“If it works, I’ll have a great sparring partner,” Gajeel mutters as he bit into an egg.

“I can’t wait to see-” 

Levy and Gajeel both let out a shout as they stared at the gigantic cat on their table. 

“I-I think it worked,” Pantherlily said as he stared down at Gajeel and then Levy who looked shocked. 

He got off the table and stood tall, he clenched his fists before throwing a few punches in the air. Lily and Gajeel smiled at Levy who had composed herself back to normal. 

“Thank you for helping me get back this form,” Lily said with a smile.

“You really are smart,” Gajeel praised. 

Levy blushed, “Oh it was nothing…”

Suddenly there was a poof. 

Both turned to see Pantherlily back in his small form, he looked at his paws in confusion before looking back up at the two peering at him from under the table. 

“What happened?” Lily asked. 

“Well since it’s now a form of magic and not your official form, you’re going to have to train yourself to last longer in that form,” Levy explained. 

Gajeel suddenly got up and Levy looked at him. 

“Well, what do you say, Lily? Shall we get started?” 

Lily smirked as he crossed his arms, “Of course.” 

“Thanks for the help and food,” Gajeel said as he started to leave. 

Levy fell silent as she watched the two walk away to go train. She smiled to herself, she was glad Gajeel got a partner. He seemed to be happier now, she liked that look on him.

Levy’s face grew hot as she tried to rush that thought out of her face. She was just glad that Warren was not in the guild...


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this chapter is bad, I lost motivation several times but I'll try my best with the next chapter. The next chapter will have the most Gajeel and Levy moments yet in the story!

The summer's night was starting to get chilly. Still, Gajeel and Pantherlily were outside in the mountainside with only pants on and plenty of injuries littering their bodies. They had been there for several days, maybe weeks. They had lost count of the days.

"Come on, Lily! You can hold out longer!" Gajeel roared out as Pantherlily fell onto the ground back in his small form. 

"Give me a second," Pantherlily panted out as he struggled to push himself up. 

"Yer holdin' on pretty well. We'll head back once you transform once more."

Pantherlily nodded as he focused and transformed back to his bigger form. He and Gajeel began to do hand-to-hand combat once more. 

Gajeel swung and Pantherlily blocked. They had been fighting for hours upon hours trying to lengthen Pantherlily's transformation time. 

After seven seconds, Pantherlily popped back to his smaller form. 

"I think that's the last of my power," Lily bit out as he stared up at the night sky. 

"Yer time has increased a lot," Gajeel said as he plopped down on the ground to catch his breath. 

Pantherlily flicked his tail as a response. He was now able to hold his form for seven minutes and a few seconds after resting for a few seconds. 

"We should wash up once we get back, we must reek," Lily said after a minute of silence. 

"Yeah, yeah," Gajeel grumbled. 

The two fighters got up and headed back to Magnolia. Gajeel ended up falling asleep the moment his body touched his bed resulting in his wet hair being a tangled mess in the morning. 

After Gajeel and Lily worked through his mess of hair, they walked into the guild. 

"We should probably go on a job," Gajeel said as his stomach rumbled. 

"Right, I wonder what my first job will be," Pantherlily said. 

"Gajeel!"

Gajeel and Pantherlily turned their heads to see a blue flash rushing at them.

"Oi! Oi!" Gajeel shouted as he tried to dodge the madwoman but failed resulting in them both falling to the ground. 

"Gajeel, are you okay? Do you know this woman?" Lily asked as he looked at the two.

"What's the matter with you?! Yer not exactly light, Juvia," Gajeel grumbled as he pushed her off of him. 

"Gajeel! Juvia needs you and Pantherlily's help on this job! Please, Juvia needs the reward!" 

"Tch, fine. Pantherlily and I were lookin' for a job anyways," Gajeel grumbled as he stood and brushed the dirt off of him. 

"Thank you! Thank you! Let's go!"

"What is this job, exactly?" Pantherlily asked as Juvia stood up. 

"We need to pull out a family's prized necklace from underwater," Juvia explained. 

"Why do you need my help? Yer a water mage," Gajeel grumbled as they walked. 

"It's under a ruined mansion in a city that got flooded. Juvia needs you two to help clear debris and lift things. Juvia isn't that strong and Juvia can't simply slice through things in case it's valuable."

"Ah, so we're just there to lift things up?" Pantherlily asked and Juvia nodded. 

"Fine, how far is this place?" Gajeel asked. 

"A few hours, get an overnight bag. Juvia needs to get the reward," Juvia said and Gajeel looked at Pantherlily who shrugged. 

"We're gonna get our stuff. Where do you want to meet up?" 

"Juvia will be at the train station waiting."

~~~

"So, I take it you look up to Gray?" Pantherlily asked.

Gajeel grumbled under his breath as he saw Juvia's eyes light up at the mention of the ice user. 

"Oh, yes! Juvia loves Gray-sama!" Juvia squealed as she hugged the Gray plushie that she had brought. 

She went on a tangent about the guy and Gajeel gave Pantherlily the side-eye. His tail drooped as he learned his lesson. 

"Oi, stop blabbering for a second," Gajeel said. 

Juvia and Pantherlily looked at him confused. 

"You kept mentioning you needed the reward for this job, what are ya tryin' to get?" 

Juvia's face grew red as she hugged the doll closer. Her face softened from her usual look and he knew it what was coming. 

"The reward, aside from the money, is a potion that will increase an ice wizard magic reserve."

"Ah, so you're planning on giving Gray the potion?" Pantherlily asked. 

Juvia smiled gently as she nodded her head, "You two can split the money. Juvia just needs the potion."

Gajeel crossed his arms, "Tch, why do you even do so much for a guy like that? He doesn't like you and what are you going to get out of this? This is stupid."

"Gajeel, that's not nice. Apologize to her, it seems to be important to her so respect that," Pantherlily scolded. 

"No, he's right. Juvia knows she should listen to him, he's been right about other guys but Juvia knows that Gray-sama is different! He's not going to be like the others!"

Gajeel huffed as he looked out of the window on the train. He hated it when she was an idiot. 

He was sure that there were better guys out there for her and among those guys was not Gray. He had seen how he treated her and he knew he saw her as nothing more than a guild member and an annoying one at that. 

"Juvia, can you just look at things seriously? I know you can see how uncomfortable he gets and how he tries to avoid you. Just know, if he ends up rejecting the potion thing, I'm just gonna rub that in yer face."

The train cart fell silent. 

"Oi, Juvia-" 

"She fell asleep after she finished speaking. I find it nice that you care for her so much, is it possible you-"

"She's been with me the longest. We've seen each other at our worst, I just don't want her to go back. When we were different people, she made it rain all the time and was so sad. I don't want her to get her heart crushed by that idiot and go back."

"You know, you may act tough but you're pretty sweet." 

Gajeel felt his face heat up as he scowled and looked away, "Shut up!"

~~~

"Ah, you three must be the Fairy Tail wizards that were sent to find my family's necklace!" A young woman exclaimed as she stood before what seemed like a murky lake. 

"That would be us," Gajeel grumbled.

"Perfect, the mansion is in the center. From there, you can enter the mansion and I'm pretty sure it was on the first floor but I don't remember where. It's a golden necklace with a blue pendant, please find it!"

“Right! Let’s go!” Juvia exclaimed. 

Gajeel and Lily shared a look as they walked toward the side of the ledge where the water had yet to reach. 

“How are we going to go underwater for so long?” Pantherlily asked. 

“Oh, Juvia’s a water mage. Juvia can make water bubbles for us to wear on our heads and we’ll be able to breathe until we run out of air,” Gajeel said as Juvia nodded. 

“I can fly us to the center but I’ll have to use my big form to carry the both of you,” Pantherlily said. 

“Juvia is fine, Juvia will merge with water and go to the center. Juvia will wait for you two in the center.”

Juvia left no time for any objections as she became clear and splashed into the water. 

“Let’s go, I want to finish this job already,” Gajeel said and Pantherlily agreed as he picked up Gajeel. 

The two flew over the flooded city and towards the center, Gajeel frowned as they got closer. 

“I wonder what caused an entire city to flood,” Pantherlily said as they looked down and saw the remains of a shop sign. 

“Dunno, I’ve never seen somethin’ like this happen,” Gajeel muttered. 

“Gajeel! Pantherlily! Juvia is here!” 

The two looked down to see Juvia waving them down a little bit away. They drew closer and Lily shivered as he retracted his wings and clung onto the top of Gajeel’s hair to avoid the water. 

“Lily, Juvia needs you to be in the water so Juvia can give you an air bubble,” Juvia explained as she watched him glare at the water. 

“Something not right about this water,” Pantherlily muttered as he looked into the darker water. 

“Oh don’t tell me yer scared of some plain ol’ water?” Gajeel teased. 

“I was a top warrior back in Extalia! I am not afraid of anything!” Pantherlily shouted as he stood atop Gajeel’s head before diving into the water. 

Gajeel snickered as Pantherlily flailed around in the water and Juvia smiled sympathetically. Juvia made them their own air bubbles and so the three of them made their way underwater. 

“You know, I kind of expected to have a clear view of things like above water, I didn’t realize we would see everything with the watery view,” Pantherlily said as his little paws paddled quickly. 

“Juvia can fix that,” Juvia said. 

The two guys were able to see clearly as they swam and arrived at the entrance of the mansion. 

“It’s closed, I don’t think we can bust this open without causing damage,” Gajeel muttered as he grabbed the handle. 

“Juvia can try to slip through with the water,” Juvia said as she drew closer to the edges of the door. 

“That seems to be the only way to get in,” Pantherlily said as he assessed the rest of the front. 

Juvia nodded as she began to slip through. She managed to open the lock and they quickly started to look for the pendant. Gajeel used his sharp eyesight to spot anything that seemed like the heirloom but all he found was utensils, other jewelry, and a rock collection. 

“This looks like shit,” Gajeel snickered as he picked up a rock that was roughly in the shape of how drawn feces looked like. 

“WHAT?!” 

Gajeel’s eyes narrowed as he dropped the rock and turned around but found no one. 

“Who’s there?!” Gajeel shouted as he turned his head trying to locate anyone but he saw no one.

Gajeel frowned as he began to swim over to where Juvia or Lily was. He hated to be paranoid about such a simple job but he was positive he heard someone scream.

“Oi, Juvia! Lily! Where are ya?!” 

“Gray-sama!” Juvia called out as she swam toward Gajeel at a rapid speed. 

His eyes narrowed as she drew closer. 

“Iron dragon lance! Demon logs!” 

A loud scream of pain rang throughout the house. Gajeel stood on defense as Juvia glared at him in pain. He watched as Juvia’s face morphed into someone else’s face. 

“Gajeel! What happened? Where’s Juvia?” 

Gajeel turned to see Pantherlily holding a letter opener. 

“I don’t know but this person tried to pass off as her so she must’ve run into Juvia,” Gajeel explained as he glared at the woman who now stared back at them. 

“Juvia, oh Juvia! All she thought about was how in love she was with ‘Gray-sama’ and she made me think that was you. Stupid girl, don’t worry about her, she’ll die here. The question is will you die here too?” The woman asked as she stalked towards Gajeel and Pantherlily. 

“Like hell, what did you do to Juvia?” Gajeel asked. 

Since they were underwater, they were at a disadvantage without Juvia. His sense of smell did not work and sooner or later he would run out of air. Pantherlily could still only transform for a few minutes before he ran out of transformation time. 

“None of your business,” The woman sneered as she started to merge with the water. 

“Not on my watch!” Lily shouted as he threw the letter opened at her and managed to hit her. 

She let out a scream of pain as her body became fully visible again. 

“She uses transformation magic, she can’t turn into the water as Juvia can,” Gajeel said as he swam towards her and grabbed her. 

“Hey, let go!” 

“Hold her!” Pantherlily said as he swam over and looked at the woman. 

“She’s wearing a tattoo like ours,” Pantherlily said as he pointed out the guild mark on her neck. 

Gajeel looked at her neck and his blood ran cold. 

“She’s part of a dark guild, Raven Tail,” Gajeel said. 

If he let go of her, she would believe that he’s a loyal member of their guild but if he kept holding her, the master of Raven Tail would get suspicious. 

“Tell me where Juvia is and I’ll let you go,” Gajeel bit out. 

Perhaps he could manipulate the situation to make her believe he was loyal to her guild. 

“Why do you care so much? The master has been looking for you,” She said and Gajeel felt Pantherlily looking at him. 

“She’s my cover and one of the master’s favorites.”

“Tch. The master thinks you’re still untrustworthy,” The girl said. 

“I’m doing what I can. Hurry up and leave already.” 

“Fine, fine. She’s in one of the rooms looking for the necklace. Here, the person who hired us didn’t even pay so I came to put this stupid necklace back,” She said as she tossed the item to Gajeel. 

She left without another word but Gajeel could feel Lily’s eyes on him. 

“Gajeel! Look at what Juvia found!” 

“I’ll explain later, don’t mention this to Juvia or else she’ll worry.” 

“You better have a good explanation,” Pantherlily said as they headed to a room where Juvia was holding a similar necklace to the one he held. 

“I think one of these two is the right one, let’s go,” Gajeel muttered and Juvia nodded. 

Juvia headed back by water and Lily carried Gajeel through the air. 

“I’ll explain when we get back to Magnolia. The master will explain too,” Gajeel said. 

“Alright.” 

Gajeel turned out to have the right necklace and they got their pay and Juvia got her potion. It turned out the necklace held a protective charm that kept the town from getting flooded. The woman had already set up a flier for a capable wizard to fix the charm. 

“Someone from your guild has already responded to it!” The lady exclaimed as Gajeel avoided looking at anyone. 

How was he supposed to explain what had happened? 

“Let’s go! Gray-sama has to drink this potion!” 

“Yeah, let’s go to Magnolia,” Pantherlily said as he stared at Gajeel. 

~~~

When the train arrived at Magnolia, Juvia had already run back to the guild. 

“Jeez, she would do anything for that loser,” Gajeel muttered. 

“This has got to be one of my longest journeys ever,” Pantherlily muttered as he carried his little bag. 

“Come on, I have to-”

“Ack!” 

Gajeel looked down at the short mage who had run straight into his chest. He had hardly felt the impact but she was on the ground. 

“Why are you in such a rush?” Gajeel asked as Levy looked up at him. “Plus where are yer lackeys?” 

“Sorry, Gajeel! I have a job to go to since it’s solo season. Team Shadow Gear has split up for the time being and I would love to stay and chat but I need to go!” 

Levy flashed them a quick smile before making her way onto the train. 

“Solo season?” Gajeel questioned as he watched her blue hair disappear beyond the metal. 

“Well then, let’s go to the guild, Gajeel.” 

“...Yeah.”

The walk to the guild was long and uncomfortable. As Gajeel tried to figure out how he was going to explain to Lily that he was a double agent causing both sides to be wary of him at times. He did not want to explain why some members seemed very hostile towards him, he rather never remember what he did to Levy. 

“Gajeel.”

“Yeah?” 

“Is there something you’re hiding from me?”

Gajeel paused to collect his thoughts. 

“I’m hiding several things if you want me to be honest. I’ll reveal my role in both guilds once we go see the master but the other thing is best left alone.” 

“I see.” 

Silence consumed them as they walked towards the guild. Once they entered, they noticed many wizards missing but paid no mind to it as they headed to the master. 

“Master, I need to discuss something with you,” Gajeel said as Pantherlily stood next to him. 

“About what?” Master Markarov asked with a flushed face and mug of booze in his hand. 

“My, uh, mission. The private one,” Gajeel muttered out as discreetly as he could. 

He doubted that Cana could hear anything over her glugging of a barrel. 

The Master seemed to sober up as he looked at Pantherlilly and back at Gajeel. 

“I see, follow me.” 

The three walked away as Cana shouted at the Master calling him a coward and causing the Master to shout back at her. Once that was done, the three stepped into the Master’s office and the Master looked serious as he sat down. 

“What’s going on?” Pantherlily asked. “Is Gajeel a traitor to the guild?” 

“No. Before the whole Edolas thing happened, I sent Gajeel on a private mission to track down my son who formed his own dark guild. To get his trust, Gajeel pretended to spy on us for my son while getting information on my sons guild. Thanks to Gajeel, I’ve been watching what’s been happening with them as discreetly as I could but because of this, many of the guild members feel wary of Gajeel that along with something else. Still, Gajeel is very loyal to Fairy Tail and is my go to for undercover missions.” 

“In other words, Gajeel is your hidden card that scopes out a situation for you?” 

“I guess so, I am strong after all. Now that yer my partner, I was wonderin’ if Lily couild help me out in those missions.” 

“Of course, my boy! I was going to have you and Juvia as my undercover agents but this is better. Are you okay with this, Pantherlily?” 

Pantherlily straightened up as he bowed, “It would be an honor to help protect people even if undercover.”

Gajeel snickered as the Master smiled, “Good now go and eat something or relax! It’s party time!” 

The master made his way out of the room leaving Gajeel and Lily alone. 

“Shall we go?” Lily asked and Gajeel nodded. 

They really were partners now. 

When they entered the dining area of the guild, they saw Juvia slinking away from Gray with the potion. The gloomy cloud that followed Juvia was all Gajeel needed before marching up to Juvia and snatching the potion.

“Gajeel!” Juvia cried out as she reached for it but Gajeel unscrewed it and walked towards Gray who was reaching for his drink. 

Gajeel showed the bottle tip into his mouth and tipped the potion into Gray’s mouth. Gray flailed his arms as Gajeel forced the potion down his throat. 

Gajeel kept the bottle there until he saw the entire potion was gone. He turned to Juvia who had arrived at his side just seconds before to help Gray who looked slightly pale. 

“Now you can't say I don't do anything for you. Let’s go, Pantherlily," Gajeel said and Lily sighed as he followed Gajeel out. 

He wondered what else was coming his way from the guild.


	13. Chapter 13

The guild had been buzzing around more compared to normal days. Gajeel narrowed his eyes as he snacked on a sword Erza had forgotten. It was weird to see the members actually rushing off to work and for the job board to be barren. 

Hell, he even saw some of the guilds groups split up to complete jobs. His eyes followed the small head of blue head as it elegantly made its way around the others and slipped her way in front of the request board. 

“What are you looking at?” 

Gajeel’s eyes tore off of Levy as he looked at Pantherlily and Juvia walking towards him. Lily carried a burger as Juvia carried two drinks. 

“The request board,” Gajeel lied easily as he glanced back only to catch the ends of the blue hair disappearing out the entrance. 

He let out a sigh as Juvia sat down a drink in front of him and sat down. Pantherlily made his way onto the table and continued to eat his burger. 

“Gray-sama keeps running off on jobs! He won’t even let Juvia tag along,” Juvia said sadly. 

“Mm, I’ve noticed only the older guild members seem to be rather relaxed as well as the newer and weaker ones. That being said, I notice Erza isn’t running off either,” Pantherlily muttered around the snack. 

“Juvia wonders what it is,” Juvia murmured as she traced the top of the cup. 

“We’ll find out at some point,” Gajeel muttered as he lifted his head and looked over his shoulder where Erza walked towards them. 

“Quick, go hide this for me,” Gajeel whispered in a slight panic as he handed Juvia the hilt of the sword. 

Lily shook his head in disapproval as Juvia sighed and took the evidence. She went on to mope over Gray somewhere else while hiding the evidence. 

“Erza! What brings ya to us?” Gajeel asked as she came to a stop in front of them. 

“Well, I heard Pantherlily can transform back into his other form and I was wondering if he would be interested in having a light sparring match with me. What do you say?” Erza asked. 

“I’d be flattered, though I don’t have a sword at the moment,” Lily said as he crumpled up the wrapper the burger came in. 

“That’s no problem, you can borrow one of mine,” Erza said as she used her magic to summon a large sword.

Pantherlily’s eyes sparkled as he got up and grabbed hold of it. 

“I’ll never stop being impressed by Earthland magic,” Lily said in awe as he jumped off the table and transformed into his big form. 

Gajeel smirked as he watched the two begin to spar. Pantherlily kept up with her and swords clashing against one another was like music to his ears. 

“That’s enough,” Erza called.

The spar came to a stop.

“I can only stay in my original body for a short time, I see,” Pantherlily said as he poofed back into his smaller form. 

“But you are really something. Your swordsmanship is superb,” Erza praised.

“Oh, hardly...I suppose I should say ‘as expected from Erza.’ “

“How ‘bout that, Erza?” Gajeel said rather cockily. “That’s how awesome Lily is!”

“So this is the power of what they label S class in the guild?” Pantherlily said with a smile. 

“I used to be an S class wizard too, back in my past guild,” Gajeel said before realizing he had not told Pantherlily about that part of his past. 

“You were in another guild?” Lily asked. 

“He was in the guild that rivaled ours. It ended up dissolving and Gajeel was recruited,” Erza covered for him. 

“Interesting, say, how come you’re not an S class wizard now? Does the title not travel over?” 

Gajeel frowned as he looked up, “I never really questioned it. Say Erza, how do I become an S class wizard?” 

The two turned to look at the mage but she was already gone. 

“That was weird,” Pantherlily said and Gajeel nodded. 

“Do ya want to see if we can get a job or-”

“Gajeel?” 

Gajeel and Lily turned to look at Wendy who nervously twisted her hands. Carla stood behind her with her usual grumpy look and arms crossed. 

“What do you want?” Gajeel gruffly asked.

“I-I want you to help me with my magic! You’re the only other dragon slayer I know aside from Natsu and he blew me off for a job.”

“So? Our types are completely different. I use solids while you use wind,” Gajeel muttered. 

“Oh come on, help the poor girl. She was only five when her dragon left her! That didn’t give her much time to learn magic properly,” Carla scolded Gajeel. 

Gajeel clenched his jaw, she was the same age he had been when his deadbeat dragon left him. 

“Oh fine, just don’t yell at me again, cat,” Gajeel said as he glared at Carla. 

Pantherlily and Wendy shared a sympathetic smile. After Carla huffed and looked away, the four of them got up and headed out of the guild.

~~~

“You call that a roar?! Again!” Gajeel shouted as Wendy heaved and held her knees as she hunched over. 

“Don’t you think she should take a break?” Lily whispered to Carla who sat on his shoulder. 

He had taken this time to try and lengthen his transformation time. 

“That girl is as stubborn as a mule, she wouldn’t let me call it off even if she was on the brink of death,” Carla scoffed as she brought her teacup up to her lips. 

“Still…” 

“Sky dragon roar!” 

“Iron dragon roar!” 

“Ah!” 

The two exceeds quickly looked up at the young mage to find her on the ground with her clothes and body all beaten up. Gajeel frowned as he crossed his arms and stared at her. 

“Kid, it doesn’t matter how much motivation you got. You have to know when you reach yer limits. Put yer pride away and call it quits for now.”

Wendy’s body trembled as she pushed herself up with shaking arms. 

“N-no! I can still…!” 

Gajeel sighed as he walked over and grabbed her by her collar. She let out a squeak as he set her on her feet, she looked like the softest gust would knock her over. 

“If you can stand for at least ten seconds, we’ll continue. If not, yer takin’ a break for a week to focus on healin’.” 

Wendy looked determined as the exceeds watched, waiting. 

“One! Two! Three! Four!”

Wendy collapsed to the ground with tears running down her face. 

“I’m sorry, I’m just so weak!” 

Gajeel frowned as he squatted next to Wendy, he scowled as he looked at her crying. 

“Stop yer cryin’, a dragon slayer shouldn’t ever cry when feeling discouraged,” Gajeel scolded. 

“It’s just, you and Natsu are so strong and I’m so weak. I make the dragon slayers look bad…”

Gajeel sighed as he stood up, he typically sucked at consoling others. Juvia made sure to tease him about it once she would get out of her funk. 

“Kid, yer stronger than more than half the guild and they’re all older than ya. If anythin’ you should practice yer magic energy. Yer moves and spells are strong but you run out of magic energy quickly and since yer so small and young, it puts you in a dangerous position.”

“That’s what I have been telling this child. It seems to me you should finally listen, Wendy,” Carla scolded. 

Wendy sniffled and wiped away at her tears. 

“Okay, thank you, Gajeel.” 

“Come now, let’s take you to get patched up,” Carla said as she flew over to Wendy and carried her to get help. 

“You know, you would make a pretty good dad.”

Gajeel felt his face heat up as he snapped his head at Pantherlily who poofed back into his normal form. A smirk was pulled all the way back as he stood up. 

“What are ya blabbin’ about? I just didn’t want to teach a crybaby anymore!” Gajeel grunted out defensively. 

“Though, your partner would have to take up the sweet part of being a parent.” 

“She would not!” 

Pantherlily’s smirk grew bigger as Gajeel realized what he said. He let out a groan as he stomped away. 

“Forget you, you stupid cat!” 

Lily laughed as he ran after his flustered companion. 

~~~

“What’s all the commotion about?” Lily questioned as he looked around and saw members he had never seen before. 

“Beats me,” Gajeel muttered as he looked towards the stage waiting for something to happen. 

The two could feel something important coming, the anticipated buzz from the older members only made them more confused. 

Suddenly, the curtains raised revealing the master, Erza, Mirajane, and Guildarts. As soon as they were revealed, the guild started shouting excitedly. Lily and Gajeel glanced at one another before continuing to watch the stage. 

“Fairy Tail! AS we have done since days long past, I will now announce the participants in this year’s S Class Wizard Advancement Exam!” The Master roared out. 

The guild cried out in happiness and Gajeel clenched his fist with a smile. Surely he would be called, after all, he was one of the strongest in the guild and a former S Class wizard. 

“Everyone, quiet down!” Erza shouted. 

“The Master isn’t finished speaking yet,” Guildarts spoke out.

The guild fell silent immediately. 

“This year’s exam will take place on Tenrou Island! It is holy ground for our guild.”

Gajeel turned his attention to the Blonde who was whispering rather loudly to two older guildmates asking what type of exam it was, Gajeel wanted to get as much leverage as he could. Unfortunately, the two had nothing to offer as the test always changed. 

“Each of your powers, hearts, and souls...I have judged them all this past year… The will be eight participants!”

Gajeel felt his heart pick up its pace. 

“Natsu Dragneel!” 

Of course. 

“Gray Fullbuster!” 

Juvia would be ecstatic. 

“Juvia Lockser!” 

It was only natural, though he wondered how she would fend against her ‘beloved.’

“Elfman!” 

Well, he is Mirajanes younger brother so he obviously has a good bloodline. 

“Cana Alberona!” 

What type of magic did she do? He never saw her do anything aside from drink. 

“Freed Justine!” 

He would be a good fight. 

“Levy McGarden!” 

Gajeel’s eyes snapped over to where the blue-haired mage was, all flustered. His mind raced as he saw her flushed face and wide smile. There was no way he would be able to fight her if it came down to it…  
“Mest Gryder!” 

Huh?

“That was eight,” Pantherlily pointed out as he tugged Gajeel’s pants, pulling him out of his daze. 

“Huh?” Gajeel was suddenly hit with the realization that he had not been called to take part in the test. “W-why aren’t I included? Even Juvia is, so...”

“I’ve heard about your reputation in the guild. Doesn’t seem like you’re trusted,” Pantherlily said as he looked at his partner. 

“Uh, no! I mean, I can’t tell you why, but I’m not!” Gajeel fumbled over his words, panic rising in the thought that Lily would find out what he did aside from the undercover which he already knew about. “I wanna explain but I can’t!”

“And there’s also Erza…” Lily said as he pointed her out as she looked at them, a smug authoritarian look on her face. 

“You’re not ready.” 

“Damn you!” Gajeel shouted. 

“Come on, let’s get you a drink,” Lily said to the crestfallen dragon slayer. 

“I don’t need consoling,” Gajeel grumbled. 

“Everyone quiet down now, Master hasn’t finished!” Erza called out. 

Deathly silent. 

“As this is the first time for some of you, let me explain the rules,” The Master said as he gestured to Mirajane who held a stack of papers.

“Each of the eight selected participants, please select a partner within the week of preparation,” Mirajane said. 

Partners, eh? Gajeel knew Juvia would try to quit and become Grays partner so he had to look for someone else. His mind was about to wander when the announcement continued.

“There are two rules for the partners you can choose: One: They must be a member of Fairy Tail; Two: You cannot partner with S Class wizards,” Erza announced. 

“Huh,” Gajeel muttered, his chances were looking pretty good if someone wanted to be his partner. 

“In other words, you can’t form a team with Erza, Mirajane, or Guildarts,” Lily muttered. 

“The contestants of the exam itself will be announced once you arrive at Tenrou Island but this time, Erza will be blocking your progress,” The Master said. 

The entire guild was shocked as Gajeel smirked, a chance to fight Erza was too good. 

“I’ll also help out to get in your way!” Mirajane cheerfully said. 

Things were looking even better.

“No complaining. All S Class wizards have gone through the same path…”

“Gildarts is participating as well I see,” Lily muttered. 

Gajeel smirked, he had to find one of the participants and be their partner. 

“The eight selected participants and their chosen partners will assemble at Hargeon Port in one week. That is all!” The Master declared and the session was over. 

The guild members separated and congratulated the participants a final time before settling back down. While everyone sat down and began to eat or talk, Gajeel and Lily headed over to one of the wooden pillars. 

“Why don’t we go mingle with the others?” Lily asked. 

“I’ve decided to be someone’s partner. I just need to see how things play out,” Gajeel muttered as he looked at her. 

She was by herself, maybe he should go to her now-

“Gray-sama...Are you planning on partnering with Lucy?!” Juvia cried out. 

Gajeel turned his head to where Juvia was only to see that Gray’s partner was one of Lucy’s spirits. Perhaps he should partner with her instead?

No. 

He did not want the slightest chance of fighting...her. Plus, Mirajane’s little sister offered to be her partner. Then the other sibling got partnered off with the woman who turned the girls into stone. 

“Levy was chosen!” 

“Amazing! You might become an S Class Wizard!” 

The cheerleaders exclaimed. 

Gajeel turned his head back to her, her idiot partners had come in the brief moment he had taken his eyes off of her. 

“So, you’ll be partnering with me, of course, right?” Droy asked. 

“Don’t be silly, she’s partnering with me! I’m the faster runner!” Jet exclaimed.

“My magic is suited for battle!” Droy defended.

Gajeel saw as she went from looking happy to glum and slumped down. 

“Tsk,” Gajeel muttered before heading over. 

Pantherlily silently watched, wondering how things would go down. 

“Anyway, you just want to be together with Levy!” 

Gajeel came to a stop behind her. 

“Same for you!” 

He crossed his arms as he looked down at her small frame.

“If you really wanna be an S Class Wizard, then I’ll lend you a hand,” Gajeel announced, a smirk on his lips as the cheerleaders let out a sound of surprise and defeat. 

Levy turned her slightly flushed face and looked at his smirk, ”Gajeel!”

“I just have to blow away any guys who get in your way, right?”

Her smile fell as did her head as she looked down at her feet. 

“But I’ve got a small body, and I’m not really good for anything…” Levy muttered sadly. “I might lose right away.”

Gajeel carefully picked her up from the back of her neck.

“Don’t go sounding so weak before it’s even started!”

“Hey! Let me down!” Levy shouted as she tried her best to release his grasp. 

“I’m gonna make you bigger than you’ve ever been,” Gajeel promised. 

Levy felt her cheeks heating up as she looked at him. 

“Okay,” She managed out weakly. 

Pantherlily smirked as he watched Gajeel succeed in getting the partner he wanted. 

“Come now, we have trainin’ to start if yer gonna be ready by next week,” Gajeel said as he set her down on the bench so she stood almost as tall as he did. 

“R-right!” Levy said as she clenched her fist and Gajeel smirked. 

“You comin’ too?” Gajeel asked Pantherlily who nodded.

Levy said a quick goodbye to Jet and Droy who were in the corner crying. She smiled as she saw Gajeel and Pantherlily waiting for her outside. 

“I was thinking I could gather up all the information I have about past tests and see what similarities or patterns there are so we can better our chances of knowing what to prepare for,” Levy said as she looked up at Gajeel. 

“Well, that would help in yer trainin’, how long will it take? I was thinkin’ we start trainin’ today. We go up to the usual area we train and set up camp there,” Gajeel said. 

Levy felt her heart skip a few beats. 

“So we’ll be camping out in your training spot for a week?” She squeaked out. 

“Yeah?”

“Well, I have it all written down in a journal so I can take it with us,” Levy said, her world starting to feel a bit loopy. 

“I can look through it if you don’t mind, while you and Gajeel start your training. That way, you won’t have to miss any training time,” Pantherlily said and Levy smiled. 

“Yeah, I have it in my bag. I brought it in case I got selected or one of my friends did,” Levy said as she pulled out the rather thin notebook. “It’s a magic notebook, it allows for the words to pop out like they were written with a light pen and you can rearrange it however you see fit. You use light pens to note anything or add.” 

“Right! Let’s start training!” Pantherlily said as Levy placed the notebook and pen back into her bag. 

“Yeah!” Levy exclaimed as she began walking with the two guys. 

Her heart raced, she was so blinded by her butterfly filled stomach that she did not realize that none of them were prepared for a week in the elements. They did not have any shelter, clothing, or food.

However, none of them realized as they made their journey into the nearby mountain area.


	14. Chapter 14

The trio made it up to a colder area after climbing and walking up for too long, even after Lily offered to fly her up, Levy complained that the place they were going better be a great training spot. 

“It is, the pressure of the waterfall helps clear your mind and will help cleanse your spirit,” Lily said as they arrived in front of a lake with water rushing down. 

“Won’t I just get crushed? Plus, I don’t have any spare clothes,” Levy said as she crouched near the edge and cupped her hands. 

They forgot to get water as well. 

“Just take off yer dress.” 

Levy choked on the water, the rest falling all over her lap as she looked at Gajeel with a red face as he took off his boots. 

“Gajeel! She’s a lady!” Lily scolded. 

Levy’s face only got hotter as she saw Gajeel half-naked, granted she saw his back as he tossed his shirt onto a rock that was not getting wet. She could feel her heart about to burst as Gajeel turned around, revealing his toned upper body.

‘Oh!’ 

Gajeel’s cheeks seemed to flush slightly as he turned and walked into the lake, his heart pounding. He had been so into the idea of being her training partner that he spoke without thinking. 

“Well, she can figure somethin’ out,” Gajeel responded, doing his best to remain composed and not break down and revealed how he was truly feeling. 

“I-I think I’ll be able to dry off using my magic,” Levy said as she handed Lily her bag.

“Right…” Lily said as Levy took off her shoes and accessories. 

Lily grabbed the items and walked towards an area that would be their campsite, it was an area he and Gajeel had spruced up so that they could sleep there when training.

Levy poked a toe into the water, a shiver ran up her spine. Gajeel smirked as he stood in the middle of the lake, waiting for her as his pants grew wetter bit by bit, water traveling up ever so slowly yet quickly. 

“What’s wrong, princess? Too cold for your likin’?” Gajeel called out. 

Levy clenched her fist as she glared at Gajeel, “Don’t call me that! I’m going you jerk!” 

Gajeel watched as Levy walked into the lake, her body stopping after the third step. She looked up at him and saw his lips turned up into one of his smirks.

Before he could bit out another snarky remark, Levy was already making her way towards him and soon came to a stop in front of him. 

“What now?” Levy asked, biting back the chatter of her teeth. 

“Well, we go to the waterfall and let the water run over us. It will help you meditate and clear your mind, body, and soul. Focus on your connection to the Earth and how your magic and you are one just like you and the Earth. Your connection to your magic and the area around you will be heightened.” 

Levy’s eyes widened, she never realized how Gajeel perceived his magic. She was rather surprised he was so into his magic mentally. 

“Alright, let’s do this.”

Gajeel and Levy sat down on the tops of two rocks that were below the water surface yet let them stay above while sitting. Gajeel made sure she was okay and would not slip before getting into his position. 

As they prepared, Lily opened the notebooks, and lines after lines of words flew out of the page and soon he was surrounded by notes. 

“Oh boy…” 

~~~

“G-Gajeel, I can’t feel my legs,” Levy chattered through. 

She had been okay at first when things got colder as the sun went down but then the snow started. She had opened her eyes to see if Gajeel had noticed but he was concentrated. 

“Your magic energy is nearly the same as when we started. At this rate, I’ll be carrying you through the fight.”

Levy frowned as she tried to warm herself up but it did not leave just yet.

Quite frankly, Pantherlily was worried. He realized rather early on that Gajeel had thick skin and he trained himself against the elements. However, Levy was a lot smaller than both of them and had less muscle and fat. 

At this rate, she would get sick and have to quit before she even got a chance to compete. 

Lily sighed as he got up, even he was feeling cold. 

“Come on, we should set up a fire and dry you two off!” Lily shouted as he closed the journal. 

He had made a little progress, he had yet to find any patterns.

“C-come on, Gajeel,” Levy chattered out. 

She was losing the feeling in her arms too and her vision was getting spotty. 

“It ain’t even that co-”

Gajeel and Lily shot up as Levy’s body slumped into the water. 

“Levy!” 

Gajeel plunged under and wrapped his arms around her, he barely felt any warmth. He brought her up to the surface where Lily flew over, his eyes wide with worry. 

“Take her!” Gajeel shouted as Lily flew down and grabbed her. 

Lily flew her to their campsite as Gajeel swam out and ran towards them. 

“We need to warm her up, start a fire,” Lily said as he checked to see if she had any water in her lungs. 

Gajeel quickly used his magic as a flint and started a fire in the little fire area Lily had prepared. 

“Shit, she doesn’t have any spare clothes,” Gajeel said as he helped Lily move her closer to the fire. 

“Right now we have to get her out of her dress, it will only make her colder,” Lily said. 

Both males looked at one another. 

“Gah, I-I’ll take the dress off and you slip on my shirt on her,” Gajeel said as he recalled his dry shirt. 

Neither one left room for arguing as they closed their eyes and slipped the mage into dry clothes. Gajeel noticed how his shirt fit her like a dress, the cape-like part draping her legs.

“What now? Her arms will be cold,” Gajeel pointed out. 

“I’ll warm her arms up, you go get something to eat and boil some water and get some sort of leaves that will work as tea. She needs to warm up on the inside too,” Pantherlily said as he rubbed her arms. 

“Right!” 

Gajeel cursed at himself the entire time he was getting her food. Somehow, when with him, she was always put into a life-threatening situation. Perhaps she should choose one of the other guild members to be her partner. 

Here he was, almost killing her on her first day as her partner. 

He punched a tree out of frustration, crushing the few berries he had found and having to start his search all over again. 

Meanwhile, Pantherlily was combing her hair. It was one of the few items in her bag that had no relevance to reading. He had made sure her arms were no longer freezing and at a safe temperature before getting to her head. In their cold, he had to make sure her hair was warm to officially take her out of the dangerous zone. 

“Mm?” 

Lily looked up to see Levy slowly opening her eyes. 

“Levy, are you okay?”

“Uh, Lily?” Levy whispered in confusion as she sat up. 

“Do you remember what happened?” Lily asked as he stepped in front of her, checking to see if she was okay or showing any signs. 

“I was training with Gajeel when I lost consciousness out of coldness...where is he?” Levy asked as she looked around. 

“He’s out getting food for you.” 

“I’m okay, I’m all warmed up and-” Levy fell silent as she noticed what she wore. Her face burned red as she pulled her legs under her thighs and used the coat and part of the shirt to cover any exposed lower skin. “Wait, is Gajeel out there wearing wet clothes in the middle of snow falling?” 

“Er, yes. Come to think of it, it’s almost been an hour…”

“What if Gajeel got hurt? We need to go looking for him!” Levy said exasperatedly as she stood up. 

“Oi, sit down. Yer not well yet.”

Both turned to see Gajeel wearing a winter coat and with a bag over his shoulder. 

“Gajeel!” Levy whisper-yelled in awe at how ruggedly handsome he looked. 

Gajeel sighed as he set the bag down and bent down, unclipping the coat. He carefully draped it over Levy, her smaller frame being engulfed by the black fabric. 

“Where did you get all of this? A trip back to Magnolia in this weather especially should have been at least three hours by foot,” Lily said as Levy blushed as held the coat tight against her. 

“Juvia noticed that we left and so did that ice stripper. It was his idea to have her give us a bag with some supplies. We can keep training here or we can go back, what do you want to do, Levy?” Gajeel asked. 

Levy blushed as she looked down, “Well, I think that my training should be reduced. I won’t magically become a whole unit like you or Erza in just one week, no matter how hard I train. I specialize in academics so I’ll spend the rest of the time outside of a bit of training looking over the notes. I’ll be the brains and you’ll be the brawn, right?” 

Gajeel smirked as he nodded. 

“Come on, let’s see what that lovesick fool packed us,” Gajeel said. 

Juvia had packed them a few simple meals that would require minimal cooking, one blanket, a Gray plushie that was almost half as big as Levy, and a sleeping bag. 

“You guys should get the sleeping bag,” Gajeel said as he reached for some type of stir-fry. 

“Eh? What about you?” Levy immediately asked. 

“Well, I’ll take the blanket and use the ice strippers stuffed doppelganger as a pillow. You and Lily are both small so you should be able to fit into the sleeping bag and he should give you a bit of warmth too.”

“That makes sense but I won’t get as bothered by the cold ground as you will. I think you and Levy should share the sleeping bag, I’ll just curl up near the fire.” 

Levy felt her face heating up at the idea of sharing a sleeping bag with a guy. On jobs with her companions, they would try to get her to sleep next to him but she always felt awkward about being that close to any guy. 

She was not sure how she would deal with being pressed up to Gajeel in a sleeping bag too small for both of them. 

“Gajeel makes sense. If he and I were to share a sleeping bag, we would either rip the thing so neither of us would be able to use it or we would get overheated and try to cool off causing one of us to fall ill.

Levy hoped she was not trying to oversell the idea too much and make Gajeel think that she hated the idea of him. That was the last thing she wanted. 

“Yeah, plus I”m not done training. We’ll eat and then you two should go to sleep.” 

Levy and Lily nodded as they used Levy’s magic to create a pot to heat their dinner. 

As she munched on a rather crunchy piece of broccoli, she looked at Gajeel who had an unreadable expression on his face. She wondered what he was thinking about, maybe her gesture had been too big and he took it the wrong way. 

“So, how long have you been a member of the guild?” Lily suddenly spoke up. 

Levy looked away from Gajeel and to the exceed, “Mm, about six or seven years.” 

“Wow, that’s really young. When did you join your first guild?” Lily asked Gajeel this time. 

Levy looked at him with curious eyes. 

“When I was twelve. So about six years ago.” 

Lily flicked his tail as he looked at them, “Do you prefer that guild or Fairy Tail?”

Gajeel’s jaw clenched as he stood up, dropping his plate. 

“I regret everything about that damn guild. Go to sleep.” 

Gajeel marched off and Levy’ stood up as she looked after him worriedly. 

“Lily, why don’t you go into the sleeping bag first? I’ll go talk to him,” Levy said as she gently sat her dishes down and chased after him. 

Pantherlily watched the two in confusion, perhaps they were closer than he thought. He shook his head as he grabbed their plates and washed them before settling into the sleeping bag. They were both mature so they would be rational about what happened. 

As Pantherlily twisted and turned in the sleeping bag, Levy brought her trembling hands up to her lips. She blew warm air on her hands as she looked around for Gajeel, it was freezing and the idiot still only wore his semi-dry pants and boots. 

He should have at least taken the coat!

Levy finally stumbled out onto the top of the cliff where she saw Gajeel sitting, looking up at the sky. 

“G-Gajeel! You’re going to get sick!” Levy said as she ran over. 

“I’m sorry.” 

Levy’s head jerked back in the slightest as she looked at him confused. 

“Gajeel, it’s okay. I forgave you a long time ago,” Levy whispered. 

“I haven’t and I never will. I can’t even blame Phantom Lord for it because I chose to do it myself. It wasn’t an order, I just…” Gajeel slammed his fists against the ledge. 

“Gajeel, I never, I never hated you.” 

Gajeel turned to look at Levy who was pulling the coat off, revealing herself wearing his shirt which was much too big for her. His face heated up slightly as he pretended to rub at his nose to hide the warm skin. 

“I hurt and humiliated you and your friends. I did it because I was a twisted person.” 

She placed the coat over his shoulders before sitting down next to him, she could feel the warmth radiating off of him. She used her magic to create a little fire in her hands that provided them both with warmth. 

“I felt bad for you. When I saw your eyes, I didn’t see any sort of humanity in them. Your eyes were like those of a being who knew no love or comfort, like those of a demon. I wondered what a person had to go through to achieve that type of darkness and emptiness and I felt bad for you,” Levy said. 

She looked up at Gajeel, a gentle look on her face as Gajeel looked shocked. 

“I know that I can’t say the same about Jet or Droy but when you joined I was actually kind of happy despite being scared. I knew that Fairy Tail would help change you for the better and you would get to be a better person. I was scared of you at first, I will admit that but when you protected me from Laxus, I saw a part of humanity in your eyes. They weren’t as lifeless as before, I’m sorry for not stopping Jet and Droy. Will you forgive me?” 

Gajeel looked at Levy, she wore a shy smile. Her blue hair was loose and glowing slightly from the orange hue the fire cast. The warmth of the fire hugged her face and made her look like what he could only call an angel. 

Gajeel let out a soft laugh as he looked away, he hoped she would not catch the warmth in his cheeks. 

“What’s this? Yer apologizin’ to me?” Gajeel shook his head as he ruffled her messy blue hair. “Yer supposed to be the brains out of the two of us!” 

“H-hey, stop that!” 

“Or what, shrimp?”

“Don’t call me that!” 

Pantherlily smiled as he watched the two banter and begin to play fight. He used his magic to silently fly back to their camping area. He should have just stayed in the sleeping bag like he had thought they were mature enough to move on. 

Though he had to wonder if he had just witnessed the beginning of a love story. He hummed as he settled back into the sleeping bag, perhaps one day he would have to tell their kids how he had seen their parents fall in love unsuspectingly under a clear night sky on a snowy cliff. 

He snorted. As if Gajeel would have kids, he would probably have to figure out how to do that first. Sure Lily had not known Gajeel as long as the other exceeds had known their partner but he was sure Gajeel focused more on fighting and training than women. 

And Levy? He was sure she was oblivious that both of her team members had a crush on her. 

But maybe one day in some strange timeline, he would be telling twins how their big, tough dad and small, sweet mom had fallen in love without either of them realizing. 

When Gajeel and Levy returned to their little campsite, they found Pantherlily sound asleep.

“Well then, goodnight,” Gajeel said awkwardly. 

“Oh, wait. My dress should be dried, you can have your shirt back,” Levy said as she walked over to her dress which was hung near the fire. 

Gajeel’s face flushed as he turned around and stared at the waterfall, he heard the rustling of fabric then he felt a small tug on the coat. He turned around and saw Levy handing him the shirt.

“Thank you,” They said in unison before they walked away feeling embarrassed at the interaction. 

When Gajeel turned around to say something about their interaction, only to see Levy in the sleeping bag with Pantherlily wrapped in her arms. It must have been the glow of the fire that night, for the first time Gajeel thought that Levy was the cutest girl in the world and thought about embracing her.

Time passed quickly and soon enough Gajeel and Levy were walking to the ship ready to face whatever challenges awaited them.


	15. Chapter 15

“It’s so hot.” 

Gajeel scoffed as he looked away from Gray who was one article of clothing away from being nude. 

“Oi, why can only Gray strip? We’re burning up too,” Cana said. 

The boat ride had hardly started and already many of the wizards on board were getting sweaty. 

“You can go into one of the rooms in the ship and change into bathing suits,” The master replied. 

Gajeel frowned, he had brought one but he was not planning on being weak and using it, unlike the others. He turned his head and spotted Juvia dressed up rather warmly. He looked away, it seemed they were both able to bear the heat. 

“Awe, come on Levy~ You have to have one that shows off your figure more!” Cana shouted. 

Gajeel frowned, he was going to give that loud-mouthed drunkard a piece of his-

He felt all words leave his head as he spotted Levy. She wore a top that was reminiscent of a tank-top but it cut off, exposing her mid-section. Then she wore a tie-on white skirt that revealed more of her legs than her dresses usually did. 

“Cana!” Levy whined as her face flushed red. 

With a hot face, Levy turned her gaze. 

Gajeel froze when her hazel-brown eyes met his own. 

“Oh, Gajeel, aren’t you going to change too? It’s pretty hot out here,” Levy said. 

“I’m fine, I’m just gonna go get some grub,” Gajeel muttered before quickly going to get some food. 

Levy nodded and when he came back with his meal, he overheard the blonde asking why it was so hot when back home it felt like winter should.

“Lu-chan, sit up straight,” Levy murmured. 

“Because of currents, this area has the same climate all year-’round,” Cana said. 

Everyone kept on groaning about how hot it was, Gajeel frowned as he looked at his lunch. He just wanted to eat in peace. 

“This heat ain’t nothin’,” He muttered. 

Everyone kept on groaning and moaning about how hot it was much to his annoyment but he managed to eat. 

“Have we arrived?” Gray asked. 

“That’s Tenrou-Island,” Lucy said. 

“What a freaky shape,” Elfman added. 

Gajeel stood up and looked at the island, it did have a rather unique shape. He wondered if it had any good iron he could eat, though he doubted it. 

“It’s said that long ago, there were fairies on that island,” Master Makarov announced from the top of the ship. “Also, in reference to the very first Fairy Tail master, there’s Mavis Vermilion’s sleeping ground!”

“What’s up with those clothes?!” Gray shouted. 

Gajeel turned to look at the master, he wore some tropical-esk clothing. 

“After all, it’s hot!” The master retaliated. 

“Someone who wears no clothes can talk?!” Lucy shot down. 

“Now, I will announce your first trial!” 

“I guess we’re really about to start,” Levy muttered nervously. 

Gajeel turned to look down at the mage who had made her way next to his side. She looked nervous.

“I can’t wait to pummel everyone.”

Levy sighed as the master spoke. 

“You see the smoke rising over the shore?” Everyone turned to see. “First head over there. You’ll find 8 passages, but only one team can enter each passage. And at the end of each passage, this will happen.”

The master pointed to an image that appeared next to him with several images and words.

“In the “Battle” route, two teams amongst the eight go head to head, and only the team that wins can go on. “Pitched Battle” is the most difficult route, as you must defeat a current S class wizard to proceed. “Calm” is a route that can be used to get to the end without fighting. In this first trial, you’re being tested on “armed might” and “luck”!” 

“Luck?” Levy whispered in horror. 

Gajeel smirked, his luck tended to be awful so chances of fighting were high. The two broke away from the rest of the participants to wait at the edge of the ship, they were now enemies. 

“In the worst-case scenario, only three teams would pass this…” Levy muttered as Gajeel used her head as an armrest. 

“Interesting! I’ll put the boot to all of ‘em,” Gajeel boasted as he clenched his other fist. 

Levy smiled awkwardly, “Uh, look…”

Gajeel paid no mind to her and her shoulders fell ever so slightly. Of course, she picked a partner who was cocky in his own strength. She wondered if he even thought she was a capable wizard.

“So, get going!” The master shouted. “The test has begun!” 

“Huh?” 

“We’re still at sea,” Loke pointed out. 

The master simply grinned and laughed. 

“I’m up for a swim anyway,” Gajeel said, a bead of sweat making its way down his face. 

Levy looked up at him, ‘So he is hot after all.’

“You know what to do, Happy!” Natsu shouted as he jumped up and Happy caught him. The two started flying away, “We’ll choose our passage first!”

“Aye, sir!” 

“No fair!” Gray shouted. 

“Natsu! You bastard!” Elfman shouted after. 

However, before the pair could get any farther, the two crashed into an invisible wall. 

“A rune…” Levy whispered as she reached into her bag. 

“Relax! It’ll disappear in 5 minutes!” Freed shouted as he got farther away with his partner nearby. 

“‘Freed!” 

“Hey, Gramps! Is that kind of thing allowed?!” Gray shouted back. 

Gajeel grumbled, he hated to admit it but Freed pretty nice magic. 

“Well, it’s not a race…” 

“If we let them get to the island ahead of us, they’ll probably set up runes all over the place!” Gray shouted in frustration. 

Levy smiled as she slipped the water-proof notebook back into her bag. Right!

“I know! Levy can get through!” Happy shouted as Natsu smacked the rune wall. 

Levy smiled as she grabbed her magic pen, “Right, I can rewrite the spell!” She smiled as she turned to look at her guildmates behind her, “But...only for Gajeel and me!” 

She offered everyone a wink before she threw herself off the boat, Gajeel following suit laughing at her slight betrayal. 

“What?!” Everyone shouted as they watched the two hit the water. 

“Levy?!” Lucy shouted. 

Levy smiled back at her friend, “Sorry, Lucy!” The two began to swim, “See you guys later!” 

~~~

“You look like a shrimp there swimmin’,” Gajeel cackled as he poured water out of his boots.

Levy flushed as she tried her best not to heave against the sand which was proving to be a damn hard task. 

“I did not!” 

“You were all,” Gajeel mimicked her struggling against the waves. He laughed as she blushed darker, “I didn’t know you couldn’t swim, shrimp.” 

“Don’t call me that and I can swim just well! You were just swimming too fast and it was hard to not get pushed back by the waves you sent back,” Levy murmured.

“Yeah, yeah. At least it took you less time to rewrite the runes this time,” Gajeel said as he heaved her up and glanced over her shoulder.

“Well, I figured Freed would do something like that so I brought the notes for when I cracked his magic a while ago,” Levy followed Gajeel who started walking. 

“I hope we choose a battle path, I want t fight, someone. Once I beat ‘em to a pulp, we’ll be the first ones done!” 

Levy frowned as Gajeel cackled. 

The pair got to the entrance of the paths and Gajeel grinned, “I can almost smell them.” 

“Gajeel, wait,” Levy said as she looked around and picked up a stick. 

“What? Come on, let’s just go!” 

Levy shook her head as she began to draw in the sand. 

“Look, there are three paths that lead to a fight towards the S-class wizards and four that lead to a fight, and logically those would have to be next to one another. Dealing with our current number, we have to choose a letter that’s an even number out of the eight so our choices so we have to choose between B, D, F, or H. Let’s see, B has been taken and considering the previous data-”

“Oi, I want to fight someone so let’s just choose a path,” Gajeel grumbled. 

“Gajeel! It makes the most sense to figure out which is the quiet path, I don’t want to fight my friends!” 

Gajeel sucked his teeth, their lead was getting smaller and smaller. He could smell Elfman and Evergreen getting closer.

“Look, yer intentions are cute and all but this is a trial pittin’ you against yer precious little friends. Like it or not, we’ll end up fighting someone to make s-class. This ain’t a little game, it’s a grab for power.” 

Levy clenched her fists, “I know that! It just, it makes more sense to avoid fighting as much as we can so we don’t grow tired.” 

Gajeel sighed as he stomped the ground Levy had written over, she let out a shout of protest. He made sure there were no words left before grabbing her wrist and leading her towards a path. 

“We’re goin’ in this one,” Gajeel said. “After all, F has to stand for first.”

“But I didn’t finish figuring out if it’s really-”

“Look we won’t have much of a choice if the others come and take paths before you can figure it out,” Gajeel snapped as he led her to the path. “Take a risk once in a while.” 

Levy was about to protest when they entered the path and there was a closing sound. They turned to look behind them and the path now had an ‘X’ over the entrance. Gajeel was able to see further and he saw the other pair arrive. 

‘Narrowly avoided them.’

“A magic that won’t let the chooser go back. Neither one of us can go back,” Levy said. 

“Come on, let’s see who we’re fighting!” Gajeel shouted as he let go of her and ran ahead. 

Levy’s eyes widened as she turned and chased after him, “Gajeel, wait! We don’t know what we have to face!” 

“Hurry up, shrimp!” 

Levy had a feeling that would stick as her nickname, still…

“Don’t call me that!” 

The pair made their way through the hall, Levy jumping at the slight echo Gajeel’s shoes provided which earned a chuckle from him. However, it was Levy’s turn to laugh when they got to an opening and saw the banner saying they had chosen the quiet path. 

“We did it! You guessed right!” Levy cheered. 

Gajeel frowned, “Oh come on! This ain’t fair!” 

Levy giggled as she turned to look up at him, “Well you did choose the route. Didn’t you?” 

“Wow, way to rub salt in my wounds, let’s go, shrimp.” 

Levy frowned but decided to let it slip as they walked down the rest of the path. 

“I think, you have better luck than you think you do. I was going to end up choosing H,” Levy said softly as they walked. “I did the work in my head. I would have made us fight.” 

Gajeel scowled, as much as he wanted to make a snarky comment about how his luck was truly terrible he could see how down Levy looked. He tended to be arrogant and snarky when there were others around but they were alone and she was no threat to him. 

For the first time, they were alone without another live being. Before, Pantherlily had been with them but now? 

“Gajeel, do you think Pantherlily is eating kiwis right now?” Levy suddenly changed the subject. 

“He’s probably sittin’ with the white cat and stuffin’ his face with ‘em. Peels and all.” 

Gajeel was glad she changed the topic, he was thinking too much. 

“You know, I bet he could become an s-class wizard one day.” 

“How do ya reckon?” 

Levy smiled, “Well, he’s very strong and good at combat by himself, he’s your perfect partner after all. He already had a position of power and was seen as equals with another version of Erza. He has a kind heart too and stands for what he believes in so if he just got more time in his fighting form and a few more jobs in he could be a candidate.”

“That’s my cat for ya, blue and white cat has nothin’ on my cat!” 

Levy laughed again, Gajeel was laughing too. Hers was a soft and bubbly one while his was a deeper and rougher laugh. 

“I think you two would be a great duo of s-class wizards,” Levy said. 

She opened her mouth to speak again but the words got suck in her throat and she quickly closed her mouth. She looked down as Gajeel started to ramble on how they would operate together, her mind wandered. 

She did not feel like she should be the one trying to get the title of S-class wizard, it had been weighing on her since the day Master had called her name as a candidate. She had been practicing magic for years but she lacked in fighting, something the wizards in their guild were notorious for. 

Gildarts, Erza, Mirajane, Laxus, and Mystogan had all been able to hold their own in a fight. But her? She had versatile magic but they had versatile fighting. She lacked in the fighting department. 

When she was with Jet and Droy, she was more like the strategist of the group. They used Jets speed and Droys attacks. Her magic was usually used to help aid the other two in capture or escape. 

“Ya know, Pantherlily wouldn’t shut up about yer magic when he met you.” 

“Huh?” Levy turned to look up at the wizard she believed should have been nominated instead of herself. 

“Yeah, I know right? He was goin’ on and on about how yer magic went great with that brain of yours. He was excited when he saw you use it, his eyes were full of sparklin’ stars. He had a hard time believin’ me when I said I used to be a wizard on the s-class level and an even harder one when he found out you weren’t an s-class wizard.” 

Levy frowned at that, Gajeel was strong. He had everything he needed to be an S-class wizard, well except for planning but he always found a way. He more so went with the flow of things than with a plan but Gildarts did essentially the same. 

“Why? You’re strong, without you I wouldn’t stand a chance.” 

“Because you use that smart little brain of yours. Every great fighter has to have a keen way of plannin’ to win whether it be off-field or on the field, apparently. He said that with yer magic, you could do it all.”

Levy felt her heart skip a beat as they stepped out of the cave and she saw Gajeel in a new light. He looked less broody, he had a slight smile, and he looked like he was a teenager just like her and not some guy trying to act like an adult forced to have grown out of childhood at a young age. 

He looked cute. 

It was as though he heard her, his eyes locking with hers.

Immediately Levy’s face burned red as she looked away, the master congratulated the two on being the first to finish and they would have to wait for the others. 

“I-I’m going to go wash up!” Levy quickly excused herself from Gajeel and did her best to not run away from him. 

Gajeel looked at the retreating backside of the mage, he wondered if he had made her uncomfortable with his talk about how great she was. Truthfully, Pantherlily did say the majority of the things but he may have been a bit much when he added the bit of her being able to do it all. 

It sort of came out by itself. He sighed, he found it hard to understand the short girl. 

When she came back, she was dried up and wearing her dress. He had simply changed into his dry pair of clothes. 

“The others sure are taking long, huh?” Levy asked as she swung her legs. 

“Even if we fought someone, we would’ve been first, the others are just weak,” Gajeel boasted. 

“Oi, Gajeel! You didn’t hurt my Levy did you, ya big oaf!?” Cana shouted. 

Gajeel gritted his teeth as he and Levy turned to see Cana and Lucy walking out pretty scruffed up. 

“Cana! You passed!” Levy said excitedly. 

“Who was weak enough to lose to you two?” Gajeel bit out with a glare. 

“Hey, we won fair and square! I bet you-” Cana was cut off by Levy grabbing her wrist and Lucys. 

“Don’t fight! Come on, I’ll show you where to wash up,” Levy said. 

Cana let out a scandalized gasp, “Gajeel! Did you peek at my sweet little Levy!”

Gajeel and Levy turned red, “Why you drunken-”

“Let’s go before you two get sick!” Levy shouted as she dragged the two away. 

Gajeel grumbled as he sat on the rock, waiting to see who else would come. Levy came back shortly, she looked more relaxed. 

“Sorry about Cana, I wonder who they fought,” Levy said as she sat down next to Gajeel. 

“Dunno, who do ya think will come out next?” 

Levy hummed, “Well, it’s hard to say. I would need to know who picked what route to try and narrow it down.” 

Gajeel grunted and the two sat waiting until Cana and Lucy came back. Levy then apologized about what she did on the boat and then before Gajeel could ask who they fought, another person came. 

“Oh, Natsu!” Lucy started but he looked dejected and did not say a word as he sat down on the rock’s other side. 

Gajeel frowned at the pink-haired wizard’s antics. He wondered what he went through. 

“Natsu?” Lucy asked but Happy shook his head as Natsu stared off. 

Before any of them could say another word, yet another person came walking through.

“Gray, Loke! I figured you two would pass the first test!” Lucy greeted. 

“Congratulations, for now,” Cana said. 

“We were lucky and got the peaceful route,” Levy said as she looked up at Gajeel.

“Lucky?! I didn’t get to smack anyone!” 

Levy giggled as they turned back to pay attention to the newcomers. 

“What happened?” 

“Well, you see…” Happy got cut off. 

“Now then, I think everyone is here,” The master said. “I will now announce the results, to date.” 

Gajeel sat up a bit straighter, he had been dying to find out. 

“Cana and Lucy defeated Freed and Bickslow, and passed through!”

“What?!” Gray shouted. 

Gajeel could not say he was not as shocked. 

“Natsu and Happy managed to get past Gildarts somehow, and passed through!” 

“You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me!” Gray shouted. 

Gajeel frowned, he heard that Gildarts was their guild’s number-one wizard. While he had been given the easy road out, everyone was fighting and showing off just how strong they were. 

“Levy and Gajeel passed through the peaceful route with good luck!” 

Levy giggled and held up a peace sign but Gajeel was irritated and snapped. 

“Yer sayin’ I got good luck?!” 

He had rotten luck.

The master then announced that Gray and Loke had gone against Mest and Wendy. Gajeel frowned ever so slightly, he wondered if the stripper had dared to hurt Wendy. 

“Did Juvia fail?” Gray asked. 

Gajeel frowned, he knew she was stronger than half of the participants so chances of her failing were pretty slim. 

“Juvia and Lisanna hit upon...her. That female knight who knows not the meaning of holding back!” 

“Poor Juvia,” Levy whispered and Gajeel nodded in agreement. 

“Then all that’s left is Elfman and Evergreen,” Lucy said. 

“But if we consider what’s left, they have taken the route…”

“Mirajane was left,” Levy whispered with a slight shiver running up her back. “Sucks to be them.” 

“Well, I could still have won,” Gajeel said with a grin. 

Then Elfman and Evergreen came barreling in. Levy and Gajeel stood up, both in shock that they were able to beat Mirajane. 

Elfman was rather pale and did not say how they made it through but Gajeel stopped wondering as the master mentioned the second test. 

Natsu finally spoke up and claimed he would become S class and then everyone started to shout about how it would be them or their partner instead. 

Gajeel chuckled, his back pressed against Levy. 

“Keep barkin’, strays.”

“Now then, I will announce the details for the second test of the S class wizard advancement exam! The second test is searching for the grave of Mavis, our founding Guild Master.”

“Founding Guild Master?” Lucy asked. 

“That sounds easy,” Natsu said. 

“You have only six hours!” The master shouted. “Hear that? I said six hours. I’ll be waiting at Mavis’s grave.”

As the master began to walk away, Natsu and Happy ran off as well. 

“Well?” Gajeel asked Levy who seemed to be in deep thought. 

“I think-” Levy was cut off as they all felt rumbling. 

“What is that?” Cana asked. 

Suddenly a tree came crashing down making them scramble. 

“What the hell?!” Gajeel shouted. 

The earth trembled more and gigantic animals with sharp teeth came running at them. 

“Run!” Gray shouted. 

Gajeel quickly ran with Levy before they came face-to-foot with some creature about to step on them. 

“Levy!” Gajeel shouted as he grabbed her arm and managed to jump away. 

“Sorry! We need to hide for the moment. I have an idea but I can’t think clearly,” Levy said and Gajeel begrudgingly agreed. 

They quickly found cover behind a group of rocks after outrunning some weird creature that had been adamant about eating Levy. 

“This island is nuts…” Gajeel muttered as he tried to catch his breath.

There was a big beast walking far away but still, it caused the earth beneath them to tremble. 

“I might die here,” Levy squeaked out. 

The two sat in silence before Gajeel finally caught his breath. 

“So, what’s this plan of yours?” 

Levy looked up at him, “I think I’ve figured out where the grave is. Or at least the clues. Will you help me get back to where we need to go? It might be a long shot. First, we’re going to have to go back to the first test site.” 

Levy looked away, “Though I’m not sure how we’ll get there with all these creatures coming after us. Any ideas, Gajeel?” 

She looked back up at him and to her dismay, he was gone. 

“Gajeel?!” 

She got up only to narrowly avoid getting hit with some pig-like creature. 

“Hurry up!” Gajeel shouted and Levy groaned. 

When had he stopped listening? She would figure that out later, she just had to keep up with him for now. 

She frowned ever so slightly, she was supposed to be the one in charge really since she was the candidate. Would Gajeel even listen to her?


End file.
